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THE UGLY DUCKLING. 

[See page 41. 













































































































GOLDEN 



HOLIDAY READINGS 


ALES 


IN THE 


LEGENDARY LORE OF ALL NATIONS 


EDITED BY 

WILLIAM SWINTON 


GEORGE R. CATHCART 

Sq 23 1881 l 


No..**.*- 


''Ty 




/ 


NEW YORK AND CHICAGO 
JVISON, BLAICEMAN, TAYLOR, AND COMPANY 


7r 


























Copyright, 1881, 

By IVISON, BLAKEMAN, TAYLOR, AND COMPANY. 



















PREFACE. 



HE aim of the editors of the Golden 
Book of Tales has been to gather 
from the wide domain of the folk¬ 
lore of all nations those beautiful 
creations that have instructed and 
delighted successive generations. A 
body of these creations forming, so 
to speak, the classics of fancy, has been selected 
from the treasury of Arabian and Hindu lore, 
from the Teutonic storehouses of legend, from 
Scandinavian sagas, and from the finer modern 
spirits who have caught the inspiration of the 
elder masters. 

A natural appetite is felt in all young minds 
for the food of fancy and feeling: if not satis¬ 
fied by the healthful and pure in the realms of 

5 























Preface. 

imagination and emotion, this craving will only 
too often seek satisfaction in the garbage of 
perverted and sensational reading. 

Though the old tales and legends are rarely 
directly didactic, a deep meaning and moral 
run through them, and form the sweetness and 
savor that have kept them so long alive. In 
the choice of pieces only such have been taken 
as combine the noblest sentiment with the 
finest fancy; while at the same time all the 
tales have been subjected to such scrutiny as 
guarantees purity and propriety of thought and 
expression. 

The artistic renderings which so richly em¬ 
bellish this volume are from the pencils of the 
most eminent masters, including Gustave Dore, 
Cruikshanks, Tenniel, Fredericks, Church, Diel- 
man, White, Hopkins, Thos. Moran, and Sol. 
Eytinge. 

6 







CONTENTS. 


Little One Eye, Little Two Eyes, PAGE 

and Little Three Eyes .... Grimm .... i 

The Fairy Folk. Allingham ... 17 

The Fisherman and the Genie . . Arabian Nights . 20 

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat . . . Edward Lear . . 27 

Rakshas and Bakshas. Hindu Legend. . 29 

The Better Land. Mrs. Hemans . . 38 

The Ugly Duckling. Andersen ... 41 

The Butterfly’s Ball. Roscoe .... 51 

The Golden Touch. Hawthorne ... 58 

Lilliput Levee. Browne .... 90 

The Elves and the Shoemaker. . Grimm .... 96 

The Yarn of the “Nancy Bell” . Gilbert . . . . 101 

Rumpel-stilts-kin. Grimm .... 107 

The Two Anchors. Stoddard . . . 115 

The King and the Locusts . . . Eastern Tale . . 119 

The First Snow-Fall. Lowell .... 125 

The Turk and the Fiddler . . . Grimm .... 128 

George Nidiver. Bret Harte . . . 138 


Aladdin, or the Wonderful Lamp. Arabian Nights . 142 

7 


























Contents . 


PAGE 


Aladdin. 

Lowell .... 

175 

Llewellyn and the Greyhound 

Spencer .... 

176 

Diamonds and Toads. 

Andersen . . . 

182 

About the Fairies. 

Mrs. Sale Barker 

189 

Cinderella . 

Perrault . . . . 

191 

The Two Church-Builders. . . . 

Saxe . 

206 

Jack and the Bean-Stalk . . . . 

Perrault .... 

210 

The Walrus and the Carpenter . 

Lewis Carroll . . 

230 

Past and Present. 

Hood . 

246 

Hop-o’-my-Thumb. 

Grimm .... 

248 

Trust. 

Whittier . . . 

264 

How Theseus slew the Minotaur . 

Kingsley . . . 

266 

The Baby . 

Geo. MacDonald . 

281 

A Tale of the Sea. 

Charles Reade . . 

283 

The Passage. 

Uhland .... 

310 

The Abbot and the Emperor . . 

A. R. Hope . . . 

312 

The Bread of Discontent . . . 

Mary De Morgan 

323 


8 


















Golden Book of Tales. 


LITTLE ONE EYE, LITTLE TWO EYES, AND 
LITTLE THREE EYES. 

NCE on a time there was a woman who 
had three daughters. The eldest was 
called Little One Eye, because she had 
only one eye, and that was in the 
middle of her forehead ; the second, 
Little Two Eyes, because she had two 
eyes like other people ; and the young¬ 
est, Little Three Eyes, because she had 
three eyes, one of them being also in 
the middle of the forehead. But, because Little 
Two Eyes looked no different from other peo¬ 
ple, her sisters and mother could not endure 
her. They said, “You with your two eyes are 


















Golden Book of Tales. 

no better than anybody else ; you do not belong 
to us.” They knocked her about, and gave her 
shabby clothes, and food which was left over 
from their own meals; in short, they tormented 
her whenever they could. 

It happened that little Two Eyes had to go 
out into the fields to look after the goat; but 
she was quite hungry, because her sisters had 
given her so little to eat. She sat down on a 
hillock, and began to cry, and cried so much 
that two little streams ran down out of each 
eye. And as she looked up once in her sor¬ 
row, a woman stood near her, who asked, “ Little 
Two Eyes, why do you cry ? ” 

Little Two Eyes answered, “ Have I not need 
to cry? Because I have two eyes, like other 
people, my sisters and my mother can not bear 
me. They push me out of one corner into the 
other, give me shabby clothes, and nothing to 
eat but what they leave. To-day they have 
given me so little that I am still quite hungry.” 

The wise woman said, “Little Two Eyes, dry 
your tears, and I will tell you something which 
will keep you from ever again being hungry. 

2 






Little One Eye , Little Two Eyes , Etc. 


Only say to your goat, ‘ Little goat, bleat; little 
table, rise,’ and a neatly-laid table will stand 
before you with the most delicious food on it, 
so that you can eat as much as you like. And 


when you are satisfied, and do not want the table 
any more, only say, ‘ Little goat, bleat; little 
table, away,’ and it will disappear before your 
eyes.” Then the wise woman went out of sight. 

3 











Golden Book of Tales. 

Little Two Eyes thought, “ I must try directly 
if it is true, what she has said, for I am much 
too hungry to wait.” So she said, “ Little goat, 
bleat; little table, rise; ” and scarcely had she 
uttered the words, when there stood before her 
a little table, covered with a white cloth, on 
which were laid a plate, knife and fork, and a 
silver spoon. The most delicious food was there 
also, and smoking hot, as if just come from the 
kitchen. Little Two Eyes said the shortest grace 
that she knew, — “ Lord, be our guest at all 
times. Amen,” — and then began to eat the 
food, which she found very good. When she 
had had enough, she said, as the wise woman 
had taught her, “ Little goat, bleat; little table, 
away.” In an instant the little table, and all 
that stood on it, had disappeared again. “ That 
is a beautiful, easy way of housekeeping,” 
thought Little Two Eyes, and was quite happy 
and merry. 

In the evening, when she came home with 
her goat, she found a little earthen dish with 
food, which her sisters had put aside for her; 
but she did not touch any thing — she had no 

4 





Little One Eye , Little Two Eyes , Etc . 


need. On the next day she went out again 
with her goat, and let the few crusts that were 
given her remain uneaten. The first time and 
the second time, the sisters took no notice; but, 
when the same thing happened every day, they 
remarked it, and said, “ All is not right with 
Little Two Eyes: she always leaves her food, 
and she used formerly to eat up every thing 
that was given her. She must have found other 
ways of dining.” 

In order to discover the truth, they resolved 
that Little One Eye should go with Little Two 
Eyes when she drove the goat into the meadow, 
and see what she did there, and whether any¬ 
body brought her any thing to eat and drink. 
So when Little Two Eyes set out again, Little 
One Eye came to her, and said, “ I will go with 
you into the field, and see that the goat is taken 
proper care of, and driven to good pasture.” 

But Little Two Eyes saw what Little One 
Eye had in her mind, and drove the goat into 
long grass, saying, “ Come, Little One Eye, we 
will sit down ; I will sing you something.” Little 
One Eye sat down, being tired from the unusual 
5 





Golden Book of Tales. 

walk and from the heat of the sun ; and Little 
Two Eyes kept on singing, “ Are you awake, 
Little One Eye ? Are you asleep, Little One 
Eye ? ” Then Little One Eye shut her one eye, 
and fell asleep. When Little Two Eyes saw 
that Little One Eye was fast asleep, and could 
not betray any thing, she said, “ Little goat, 
bleat; little table, rise,” and sat herself at her 
table, and ate and drank till she was satisfied ; 
then she called out again, “ Little goat, bleat; 
little table, away,” and instantly every thing 
disappeared. 

Little Two Eyes now woke Little One Eye, 
and said, “ Little One Eye, you pretend to 
watch, and fall asleep over it, and in the mean 
time the goat could have run all over the world: 
come, we will go home.” Then they went home, 
and Little Two Eyes let her dish again stand 
untouched; and Little One Eye, who could not 
tell the mother why her sister would not eat, 
said, as an excuse, “ Oh, I fell asleep out there.” 

The next day the mother said to Little Three 
Eyes, “ This time you shall go and see if Little 
Two Eyes eats out of doors, and if any one 
6 





Little One Eye , Little Two Eyes , Etc . 

brings her food and drink; for she must eat and 
drink secretly.” So Little Three Eyes went to 
Little Two Eyes, and said, “ I will go with you, 
and see whether the goat is taken proper care 
of, and driven to good pasture.” But Little Two 
Eyes saw what Little Three Eyes had in her 
mind, and drove the goat into long grass, and 
said as before, “ We will sit down here, Little 
Three Eyes; I will sing you something.” 

Little Three Eyes seated herself, being fatigued 
from the walk and the heat of the sun; and 
Little Two Eyes began the same song again, 
and sang, “Are you awake, Little Three Eyes?” 
But instead of singing then as she should, “ Are 
you asleep, Little Three Eyes?” she sang, through 
carelessness, “Are you asleep, Little Two Eyes?” 
and went on singing, “ Are you awake, Little 
Three Eyes? Are you asleep, Little Two Eyes?” 
So the two eyes of Little Three Eyes fell asleep, 
but the third did not go to sleep, because it 
was not spoken to by the verse. 

Little Three Eyes, to be sure, shut it, and 
made believe to go to sleep, but only through 
slyness ; for she winked with it, and could see 
7 





Golden Book of Tales . 

every thing quite well. And when Little Two 
Eyes thought that Little Three Eyes was fast 
asleep, she said her little sentence, “ Little goat, 
bleat; little table, rise,” ate and drank heartily, 
and then told the little table to go away again, 
“ Little goat, bleat; little table, away.” 

But Little Three Eyes had seen every thing. 
Then Little Two Eyes came to her, woke her, 
and said, “ Ah! Little Three Eyes, have you 
been asleep ? you keep watch well! come, we 
will go home.” And when they got home, 
Little Two Eyes again did not eat, and Little 
Three Eyes said to the mother, “ I know why 
the proud thing does not eat: when she says 
to the goat out there, ‘ Little goat, bleat; little 
table, rise,’ there stands before her a table, 
covered with the very best food, much better 
than we have here ; and when she is satisfied, 
she says, “ Little goat, bleat; little table, away,’ 
and every thing is gone again. I have seen it 
all. She put two of my eyes to sleep with her 
little verse, but the one on my forehead luckily 
remained awake.” 

Then the envious mother cried out, “ Shall 
8 





Little One Eye , Little Two Eyes , Etc . 


she be better off than we are ? No, indeed.” 
So she took a butcher’s knife, and stuck it into 
the goat’s heart, so that it fell down dead. 
When Little Two Eyes saw that, she went out 
full of grief, seated herself on a hillock, and 
wept bitter tears. All at once the wise woman 
stood near her again, and said, “ Little Two 
Eyes, why do you cry ? ” 

“ Shall I not cry?” answered she. “ The goat 
who every day, when I said your little verse, laid 
the table so beautifully, has been killed by my 
mother. Now I must suffer hunger and thirst 
again.” 

The wise woman said, “ Little Two Eyes, I 
will give you some good advice : beg your sis¬ 
ters to give you the heart of the goat, and bury 
it in the ground before the house-door, and it 
will turn out lucky for you.” Then she disap¬ 
peared, and Little Two Eyes went home, and 
said to her sisters, “ Dear sisters, give me some 
part of my goat ; I don’t ask for any thing good, 
only give me the heart.” 

Then they laughed and said, “You can have 
that, if you do not want any thing else.” Little 
9 













Golden Book of Tales. 


Two Eyes took the heart, and in the evening 
buried it quietly before the house-door. 

Next morning, when the sisters woke, and 
went to the house-door together, there stood a 
most wonderfully splendid tree, with leaves of 
silver, and fruit of gold hanging between them. 
Nothing more beautiful or charming could be 
seen in the wide world. But they did not know 
how the tree had come there in the night. 
Little Two Eyes alone noticed that it had grown 
out of the heart of the goat, for the tree stood 
just where she had buried the heart in the 
ground. 

Then the mother said to Little One Eye, 
“ Climb up, my child, and gather us some fruit 
from the tree.” 

Little One Eye climbed up ; but when she 
wanted to seize a golden apple, the branch 
sprang out of her hand every time, so that she 
could not gather a single apple, though she tried 
as much as she could. 

Then the mother said, “ Little Three Eyes, do 
you climb up ; you can see better about you 
with your three eyes than Little One Eye can.” 


IO 








Little One Eye , Little Two Eyes , Etc. 



Little One Eye scrambled down, and Little 
Three Eyes climbed up. But Little Three Eyes 
was no cleverer, and might look about her as 

ii 













Golden Book of Tales. 

much as she liked — the golden apples always 
sprang back from her grasp. At last the mother 
became impatient, and climbed up herself, but 
could touch the fruit just as little as Little One 
Eye or Little Three Eyes: she always grasped 
the empty air. 

Then Little Two Eyes said, “ I will go up 
myself: perhaps I shall prosper better.” 

“You!” cried the sisters. “With your two 
eyes, what can you do ? ” 

But Little Two Eyes climbed up, and the 
golden apples did not spring away from her, 
but dropped of themselves into her hand, so 
that she could gather one after the other, and 
brought down a whole apron-full. Her mother 
took them from her; and her sisters, Little One 
Eye and Little Three Eyes, instead of behaving 
better to poor Little Two Eyes, were only envi¬ 
ous because she alone could get the fruit, and 
behaved still more cruelly to her. 

It happened as they stood together by the 
tree, one day, that a young knight came by. 

“ Quick, Little Two Eyes! ” cried the two 
sisters, “ creep under, so that we may not be 

i? 





Little One Eye , Little Two Eyes , Etc. 

ashamed of you.” Then they hurriedly threw 
over poor Little Two Eyes an empty cask that 
stood just by the tree, and pushed also beside 
her the golden apples which she had broken 
off. 

Now, as the knight came nearer, he proved to 
be a handsome prince. He stood still, admired 
the beautiful tree of gold and silver, and said 
to the two sisters, — 

“ To whom does this beautiful tree belong? 
She who gives me a branch of it shall have 
whatever she wishes.” 

Then Little One Eye and Little Three Eyes 
answered that the tree was theirs, and they 
would break off a branch for him. They both 
of them gave themselves a great deal of trouble, 
but it was no use, for the branches and fruit 
sprang back from them every time. 

Then the knight said,— 

“ It is very wonderful that the tree belongs 
to you, and yet you have not the power of 
gathering any thing from it.” 

They insisted, however, that the tree was 
their own property. But as they spoke, Little 
13 





Golden Book of Tales . 


Two Eyes rolled a few golden apples from 
under the cask, so that they ran to the feet of 
the knight; for Little Two Eyes was angry that 
Little One Eye and Little Three Eyes did not 
tell the truth. 

When the knight saw the apples, he was 
astonished, and asked where they came from. 
Little One Eye and Little Three Eyes answered 
that they had another sister, who might not, 
however, show herself, because she had only two 
eyes, like other common people. But the knight 
desired to see her, and called out, “ Little Two 
Eyes, come out.” Then Little Two Eyes came 
out of the cask quite comforted, and the knight 
was astonished at her great beauty, and said, — 
“You, Little Two Eyes, can certainly gather 
me a branch from the tree ? ” 

“ Yes,” answered Little Two Eyes, “I can do 
that, for the tree belongs to me.” And she 
climbed up., and easily broke off a branch, with 
its silver leaves and golden fruit, and handed 
it to the knight. 

Then the knight said, “ Little Two Eyes, what 
shall I give you for it ? ” 





Little One Eye , Little Two Eyes , Etc . 


“ Oh! ” answered Little Two Eyes, “ I suffer 
hunger and thirst, sorrow and want, from early 
morning till late evening. If you would take me 
with you, and free me, I should be happy.” 



Then the knight lifted Little Two Eyes on to 
his horse, and took her home to his paternal 
castle. There he gave her beautiful clothes, 
*5 















Golden Book of Tales. 

food and drink as much as she wanted, and 
because he loved her so much he married her, 
and the marriage was celebrated with great joy. 

Now, when Little Two Eyes was taken away 
by the handsome knight, the two sisters envied 
her very much her happiness. “ The wonderful 
tree remains for us still,” thought they; “ and 
even though we can not gather any fruit from 
it, every one will stand still before it, come to 
us, and praise it.” But the next morning the 
tree had disappeared, and all their-hopes with it. 

Little Two Eyes lived happy a long time. 
Once two poor women came to her at the 
castle, and begged alms. Then Little Two 
Eyes looked in their faces, and recognized her 
sisters, Little One Eye and Little Three Eyes, 
who had fallen into such poverty that they had 
to wander about, and seek their bread from 
door to door. Little Two Eyes, however, bade 
them welcome, and was very good to them, and 
took care of them ; for they both repented from 
their hearts the evil they had done to their 
sister in their youth. 

16 







THE FAIRY FOLK. 

P the airy mountain, 

Down the rushy glen, 

We dare not go a-hunting, 
For fear of little men : 
Wee folk, good folk, 

Trooping all together, — 
Green Jacket, Red Cap, 

And White Owl’s Feather. 


Down along the rocky shore 
Some make their home: 
They live on crispy pancakes 
Of yellow tide foam ; 


17 










Golden Book of Tales. 

Some in the reeds 

Of the black mountain lake, 

With frogs for their watch-dogs 
All night awake. 

They stole little Bridget 
For seven years long; 

When she came down again, 

Her friends were all gone. 

They took her lightly back 

Between the night and morrow : 

They thought that she was fast asleep, 
But she was dead with sorrow. 

They have kept her ever since 
Deep within the lakes, 

On a bed of flag-leaves, 

Watching till she wakes. 

By the craggy hill-side, 

Through the mosses bare, 

They have planted thorn-trees 
For pleasure here and there. 

Is any man so daring 

As dig them up in spite, 

18 





The Fairy Folk . 

He shall find their sharpest thorns 
In his bed at night. 

Up the airy mountain, 

Down the rushy glen, 

We dare not go a-hunting, 

For fear of little men : 

Wee folk, good folk, 

Trooping all together, — 

Green Jacket, Red Cap, 

And White Owl’s Feather. 

19 







THE FISHERMAN AND THE GENIE. 

HERE was once a poor fisherman who 
vowed not to cast his net more than 
four times a day. This vow he kept; 
but when he came to have a large 
family, he was very sorry he had 
made it. 

One morning, having thrown his net 
three times without any success, he was almost 
wild with grief. He had but one more chance. 
This time he felt that he must succeed, for his 
children needed food, and he dared not break 
his vow. 

With a .beating heart, he drew in the net the 
fourth time. He felt sure that at last good 
fortune had smiled on him, for the net was 
heavy. But instead of the fish he had hoped 
for, what should he drag out upon the sand of 

20 























The Fisherman and the Genie. 


the shore but a small copper vase, sealed with 
a leaden seal! 


This seal he eagerly tore off, but to his great 
regret the casket was empty. He threw it on 
the ground, and was looking at it in despair, 
when he saw a thick smoke coming out of it, 












Golden Book of Tales. 

which rose to the clouds, and spread itself 
along the sea and shore. 

When the smoke was all out of the vase, it 
took the shape of an enormous genie, whose 
head was in the clouds while his feet rested on 
the ground. His head was like a dome, and 
his legs like the masts of a ship; his mouth 
was like a cave, and his teeth like huge stones; 
his eyes shone like lamps, and his hair was 
wild and shaggy. 

At the sight of this awful figure, the fisher¬ 
man would have fled, but was too much fright¬ 
ened. “ Solomon, Solomon ! ” cried the genie, 
“ pardon, pardon, pardon.” The fisherman hear¬ 
ing this took courage, and said, “ Proud spirit, 
what is it thou talkest of? It is eighteen hun¬ 
dred years since Solomon died, and we are now 
at the end of time. How earnest thou to be 
shut up in this vase ? ” 

The genie turned to the fisherman with a 
fierce look, and said, “ Thou art very bold to 
call me a proud spirit. Speak to me more 
civilly before I kill thee.” — “What! ” replied the 
fisherman, “ wouldst thou kill me for setting 
22 





The Fisherman and the Genie . 


thee free ? Is that the way you reward me ? ” 
— “I can not treat thee otherwise/’ replied the 
genie ; “ listen to my story.” 

Then the genie told the fisherman that be¬ 
cause of his sins Solomon had shut him up in 
the copper vase, and had ordered it to be 

sealed with the royal seal and thrown into the 
sea. When he was at the bottom of the sea 
the genie made three vows, one every hundred 
years. 

“ I vowed,” he said, “ that if any man set 
me free within the first hundred years, I would 
enrich him, but no man came to my aid. In 
the second hundred years I vowed that if any 
one set me free, I would show him all the 

treasures of the earth ; still no help came. In 
the third hundred years I vowed that if any 

one set me free, I would make him a most 

powerful monarch, that I would be always at 
his command, and grant him every day any three 
requests he chose to make. Then, being still a 
prisoner, I vowed that I would kill any man who 
set me free, and that the only favor I would 
grant him should be the manner of his death.” 

2 3 









Golden Book of Tales. 

Now, the fisherman did not like the idea of 
being killed ; and he and the genie had a long 
talk about it. The genie, however, was deter¬ 
mined to have his own way; and the poor fish¬ 
erman was going to be killed, when he thought 
of a trick he might play upon the genie. He 
knew two things: first, that the genie must 
answer questions put to him in the name of 
Allah; and also that, though very strong, he 
was one of a kind of beings who are very 
stupid, and who are easily led into a trap. 

So he said, “ I consent to die; but before 
I choose the manner of my death, I command 
thee, by the great name of Allah, which is 
graven upon the seal of Solomon, to answer 
me truly a question I am going to put to thee.” 
Then the genie trembled, and said, “ Ask, but 
make haste.” 

Now, when he knew the genie would speak 
the truth, the fisherman said, “ Darest thou 
swear by the great name of Allah that thou 
really wert in that vase?” — “I swear it by the 
great name of Allah,” said the genie. 

But the fisherman said he would not believe 

24 





The Fisherman and the Genie. 


it unless he saw it with his own eyes. “ It 
will not contain thy hand or thy foot, how then 
could it contain thy whole body?” Then, being 
too stupid to see the plan of the fisherman, 

the genie fell into the trap. His form began 

to change into smoke, and to spread as before 
over the shore and the sea. Gathering itself 
together, it began to enter the vase, and con¬ 
tinued to do so, with a slow and even motion, 
until nothing was left outside. Then out of 

the vase came the voice of the genie, saying, 

“ Now, poor fool, am I not in the vase ? ” 

The fisherman, instead of answering him, 
snatched up the leaden seal, and put it on the 
vase again. Then he shouted to the genie, 
“ Now, master, it is thy turn to beg. Now thou 
mayst choose the sort of death thou likest best. 
Speak quickly, or I will again cast thee into the 
sea, and build here on the shore a house where 
I will live, to warn all poor fishermen against 
so wicked a genie as thou art.” 

Then the genie cried out, “ Nay, nay! ” to 
which the fisherman answered, “ Yea, without 
fail! Yea, without fail! ” Then the genie tried 
25 

_ 





Golden Book of Tales. 

to get out of the vase, but the seal of Solo¬ 
mon kept him fast shut up. Then he said he 
was only joking when he talked about killing 
the fisherman. At last he begged and prayed 
to be let out, but the fisherman only laughed 
at him. 

At last they made a bargain, the genie swear¬ 
ing by Allah that he would make the fisherman 
rich ; and then the fisherman cut the seal again, 
and the genie came out of the vase. The first 
thing he did when he got out was to kick the 
vase into the sea. This frightened the fisher¬ 
man, who began to beg and pray for his life. 

But the genie kept his word, and took him 
past the city, over a mountain and over a vast 
plain, to a little lake between four hills. Here 
he caught four little fish, of different colors — 
white, red, blue, and yellow. “ Take these to 
the sultan,” said the genie, “ and present them 
to him, and he will enrich thee.” With these 
words the genie stamped his foot upon the 
ground, which opened, and he vanished from 
sight, the earth closing over him. 

26 






THE OWL AND THE PUSSY-CAT. 


HE Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea 
In a beautiful pea-green boat; 

They took some honey, and plenty 
of money 
Wrapped up in a five-pound note. 

The Owl looked up to the moon above, 

And sang to a small guitar, 

“ O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love! 

What a beautiful Pussy you are, — 

You are, 

What a beautiful Pussy you are! ” 



2 7 























Golden Book of Tales. 

Puss said to the Owl, “You elegant fowl! 

How wonderful sweet you sing! 

O let us be married, — too long we have tar¬ 
ried, — 

But what shall we do for a ring ? ” 

They sailed away for a year and a day 

To the land where the bong-tree grows, 
And there in a wood, a piggy-wig stood 
With a ring in the end of his nose, — 

His nose, 

With a ring in the end of his nose. 

“ Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shil- 
ling 

Your ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will.” 

So they took it away, and were, married next 
day 

By the turkey who lives on the hill. 

They dined upon mince and slices of quince, 
Which they ate with a runcible spoon, 

And hand in hand on the edge of the sand 
They danced by the light of the moon, — 
The moon, 

They danced by the light of the moon. 

28 






RAKSHAS AND BAKSHAS. 1 

NCE upon a time 
a blind man and 
deaf man made 
a bargain. The 
blind man was 
to hear for the 
deaf man, and 
the deaf man 
was to see for 
the blind man ; 
and so they were 
to go about on 
their travels to¬ 
gether. 

One day they went to a singing and dancing 
exhibition. The deaf man said, “The dancing 
is very good, but the music is not worth listen- 

1 The name Rakshas in Hindu legend means ogre . 

29 





























Golden Book of Tales. 

ing to.” — “I do not agree with you,” said the 
blind man: “ I think the music is very good, 
but the dancing is not worth looking at.” So 
they went away for a walk in the jungle. 

On the way they found a donkey, belong¬ 
ing to a washerman, and a big iron kettle, 
which the washerman used for boiling clothes. 
“ Brother,” said the deaf man, “ here is a don¬ 
key and a kettle; let us take them with us: 
they may be useful.” So they took them, and 
went on. 

Presently they came to an ants’ nest. “ Here,” 
said the deaf man, “ are a number of very fine 
black ants ; let us take some of them to show 
our friends.” — “ Yes,” said the blind man, “ they 
will make nice presents for our friends.” So the 
deaf man took out a silver box from his pocket, 
and put several of the black ants into it. 

After a time a terrible storm came on. “ Oh, 
dear!” cried the deaf man, “how dreadful this 
lightning is! let us find some place of shelter.” 
— “I don’t see that the lightning is dreadful at 
all,” said the blind man, “ but this thunder is 
awful: yes, let us get under cover.” 

30 





Rakshas and Bakshas . 


So they went up to a building that looked 
like a temple, and went in, and took the donkey 
and the big kettle and the black ants with 
them. But it was not a temple, it was the 
house of a powerful Rakshas; and the Rakshas 
came home just after they had got inside and 
had fastened the door. 

Finding that he couldn’t get in, he began to 
make a great noise, louder than the thunder, 
and to beat upon the door with his great 
fists. 

Now, the deaf man looked through a chink, 
and saw him, and was very badly frightened, 
for the Rakshas was dreadful to look at. But 
the blind man was not so much afraid, for he 
could not see the Rakshas. So he went to the 
door, and called out: “ Who are you ? and what 
do you mean by coming here and battering 
at the door in this way, and at this time of 
night?” 

“ I’m a Rakshas,” he answered, in a rage; 
“ and this is my house; and if you don’t let 
me in I will kill you.” 

Then the blind man called out in reply, “ Oh! 
31 





Golden Book of Tales. 

you’re a Rakshas, are you ? Well, if you’re 
Rakshas, I’m Bakshas, and Bakshas is as good 
as Rakshas.” 

“What nonsense is this?” cried the monster; 
“there is no such creature as Bakshas.”—“Go 
away,” replied the blind man: “ if you make 
any further disturbance I’ll punish you; for 
know that I am Bakshas, and Bakshas is Rak- 
shas’s father.” 

“ Goodness gracious! ” cried the Rakshas, “ I 
never heard such an extraordinary thing in my 
life. But, .if you are my father, let me see 
your face.” For he began to get puzzled and 
frightened, as the person inside was so very 
positive. 

Now, the blind man and the deaf man didn’t 
quite know what to do ; but at last they opened 
the door just a little, and poked the donkey’s 
nose out. 

“ Bless me,” thought the Rakshas, “ what a 
terribly ugly face my father Bakshas has got! ” 
Then he called out again, “ O father Bakshas, 
you have a very big fierce face; but sometimes 
people have very big heads and very little 
32 





Rakshas and Bakshas. 


bodies. Let me see you, body and all, before 
I go away.” 



Then the blind man and the deaf man rolled 
the great iron kettle across the floor with a 
33 































Golden Book of Tales. 

thundering noise ; and the Rakshas, who watched 
the chink of the door very carefully, said to 
himself, “ He has got a great body sure enough, 
so I had better go away.” 

But he was still in doubt; so he said, “ Before 
I go away let me hear you scream,” for all the 
tribe of the Rakshas scream dreadfully. Then 
the blind man and the deaf man took two of 
the black ants out of the box, and put one 
into each of the donkey’s ears; and the ants 
bit the donkey, and the donkey began to bray 
and to bellow so loud that the Rakshas ran 
away quite frightened. 

In the morning the blind man and the deaf 
man found that the floor of the house was 
covered with heaps of gold, and silver, and 
precious stones. So they made four great bun¬ 
dles of the treasure, and taking one apiece, put 
the other two on the donkey, and off they went. 
But the Rakshas was waiting a little way off to 
see how his father Bakshas looked by daylight; 
and when he only saw a deaf man, and a blind 
man, and a big iron kettle, and a donkey, all 
loaded with his gold and silver, he was very 
34 





Rakshas and Bakshas. 


angry. So he ran off and fetched six of his 
friends to help him; and each of the six had 
hair a yard long, and tusks like an elephant. 

When the blind man and the deaf man saw 
them coming, they ran and hid the treasure in 
the bushes; and then they got up into a lofty 
palm-tree, and waited. The deaf man, who 
could see, got up first, to be farthest out of 
harm’s way. 

Now, the seven Rakshas were not able to 
reach them, and so they said, “ Let us get on 
each other’s shoulders, and pull them down.” 

So one Rakshas stooped down, and the sec¬ 
ond got on his shoulders, and the third on 
his, and the fourth on his, and the fifth on his, 
and the sixth on his. Just as the seventh was 
climbing up, the deaf man got frightened, and 
caught hold of the blind man’s arm and upset 
him, so that he tumbled down on the neck of 
the seventh Rakshas. The blind man thought 
he had fallen into the branches of another tree, 
and, stretching out his hands for something to 
take hold of, he seized the two great ears of the 
seventh Rakshas, and pinched them very hard. 

35 





Golden Book of Tales. 

This frightened the Rakshas, who lost his 
balance, and fell down to the ground, upsetting 
the other six of his friends; the blind man all 
the while pinching harder and harder, and the 
deaf man crying out from the top of the tree, 
“You’re all right, brother; hold on tight: I’m 
coming down to help you ” — though he really 
didn’t mean to do any thing of the kind. 

Well, the noise, and the pinching, and all 
the confusion, so frightened the six Rakshas 
that they ran away; and the seventh Rakshas, 
thinking that because they ran there must be 
great danger, shook off the blind man, and ran 
away too. The deaf man then came down from 
the tree, and embraced the blind man, and said, 
“ I could not have done better myself.” 

Then he divided the treasure, — one great 
heap for himself, and one little heap for the 
blind man. But the blind man felt of his heap 
and then felt of the other; and then gave the 
deaf man a box on the ear, so tremendous that 
it made the deaf man hear. Enraged at this, 
the deaf man gave the other such a blow 
between the eyes that it made the blind man 
36 









THE BETTER LAND. 

HEAR thee speak of the better 
land ; 

Thou call’st its children a happy 
band. 

Mother! oh, where is that radiant 
shore ? 

Shall we not seek it, and weep no 
more ? 

Is it where the flower of ^the. orange 
blows, 

fire-flies dance through the myrtle 
boughs ?” 

“Not there, not there, my child!” 

“ Is it where the feathery palm-trees rise, 

And the date grows ripe under sunny skies? 
Or midst the green islands of glittering seas, 

38 



And the 






















The Better Land. 


Where fragrant forests perfume the breeze, 

And strange bright birds, on their starry wings, 



Bear the rich hues of all glorious things? 
“Not there, not there, my child!” 


39 










Golden Book of Tales. 

“ Is it far away, in some region old. 

Where the rivers wander o’er sands of gold ? 
Where the burning rays of the ruby shine, 

And the diamond lights up the secret mine, 
And the pearl gleams forth from the coral strand? 
Is it there, sweet mother, that better land ? ” 

“ Not there, not there, my child! 

“ Eye hath not seen it, my gentle boy. 

Ear hath not heard its deep songs of joy. 
Dreams can not picture a world so fair. 

Sorrow and death may not enter there. 

Time doth not breathe on its fadeless bloom ; 
For beyond the clouds, and beyond the tomb, 
It is there, it is there, my child! ” 

40 







THE UGLY DUCKLING. 

fine summer’s day in the country, 
duck was sitting in her nest hatch- 
y her eggs ; but of this task she 
ls almost tired, for scarcely a friend 
d paid her a visit. The other ducks 
ire all swimming about in the pond, 
minding their own business, and did not want 
to gossip. 

At last one egg cracked, then a second, then 
a third, and so on. “ Peep, peep ! ” went one ; 
“ Peep, peep ! ” went another, until a dozen had 
cracked, and the little downy things popped 
their heads out of their narrow home, as out of 
a window. “ Quack, quack! ” said the mother, 
as the ducklings moved out as fast as they 
could, looking about them in great wonder. 
“ How big the world is! ” said the little ones. 

41 










Golden Book of Tales . 

“ Do you think that this is the whole world ? ” 
said the mother. “ Oh, no! it stretches far 
away beyond the garden. But are you all here ? 
No, you are not all hatched yet,” added she; 
“ the biggest egg lies there still ! How long 
will this last ? I begin really to be quite tired.” 

For all that, she sat down on the nest again. 

“ Well! how are you to-day?” quacked a fussy 
old duck, who came to make her a call. “ Oh, 
there is no end to hatching this one egg,” 
grumbled the mother; “ the shell must be too 
hard for the duckling to break. But now you 
shall see the others. There is my pretty little 
family! ” 

“ Show me the egg that will not break,” said 
the old duck. “ It must be a turkey’s egg, I 
think. . The same thing happened to me once, 
and I had a deal of trouble with it, let me tell 
you. Yes, I am quite right, it is a turkey’s egg! 
So, get off your nest, and mind the others, as 
soon as you like.” 

“ I shall sit a little longer,” said the mother. 

“ Oh, very well! that’s none of my business,” 
said the old duck, rising to leave. 

42 





The Ugly Duckling. 

At last the great egg cracked. “ Peep, peep !” 
cried the scared little thing, as he broke through 
the shell. Oh! how big and how ugly he was! 
The mother scarcely dared to look at him ; she 
knew not what to think of him. At last she 
said, “This is certainly a curious young drake. 
It may turn out to be a turkey, but we shall 
give him a fair chance. Into the water he 
must go, even if I should be obliged to push 
him in.” 

The next day was very beautiful, so the mother 
duck left home, her whole family waddling about 
her. Splash ! she went into the water. “ Quack, 
quack! ” she cried, and one duck after the other 
followed her example. Not one stayed behind : 
even the ugly gray last-born swam merrily about 
with the rest. 

“ He is no turkey, after all, and will not 
shame my family,” said the old duck. “ Really, 
if one examines him closely, he is good-looking 
enough. Quack, quack! now come with me, 
all of you, and I will show you the world, and 
introduce you to the farm-yard.” 

They soon reached the yard, but the other 
43 





Golden Book of Tales. 

ducks looked cross at them, saying, “ Here 
comes another brood; as if there were not 
enough of us already ! But see what a fright 
that duckling is; he can’t stay among us.” At 
these words an impudent drake bit the poor 
duckling in the neck. 

“ Leave him alone,” cried his mother; “ he 
doesn’t harm any one.” 

“ Perhaps not,” replied the naughty drake, 
“ but he is much too big for his age, and a 
beating will do him good.” 

The mother smoothed his feathers, but the 
ugly duckling was pecked at, pushed, and made 
fun of by both ducks and chickens. So the 
poor thing, knowing not where to stand or 
where to go, was quite cast down.- 

Thus the first day passed ; but the next day 
and the day after brought new troubles. The 
duckling was hunted by all like a wild beast, 
even his -brothers and sisters behaving very 
badly to him; the hens pecked him, and the 
girl who fed the fowls pushed him roughly 
away. 

Then he ran and flew over the fence, and 

44 





The Ugly Duckling. 


away across the fields, until at last he lighted 
on a hedge. The little singing birds in the 
bushes flew away in a great fright. “ That is 
because I am so ugly,” thought the young 
duck, shutting his eyes. Next, he continued 
his flight onward, till he reached a large marsh, 
where wild ducks flocked together. There he 
stayed the whole night, sorrowful and tired to 
death. 

Early in the morning the wild ducks noticed 
their new comrade. 

“You are ugly enough,” said they; “but 
that is no matter, if you do not marry into our 
family.” 

The poor outcast did not wish to marry: he 
only wanted to be let alone, that was all. 

But the ugly duckling could get no peace, 
so he flew away again. Toward evening he 
reached a little hut, and as the door was open 
he slipped into the room. 

The only living things in the hut were an 
old woman with her cat and her hen. Next 
morning they saw their strange guest. 

“ What is that ? ” said the dame, who, not 


45 





Golden Book of Tales . 

seeing well, took the poor lean bird for a fat 
duck that had mistaken his way in the dark. 
“ Here is indeed a piece of good luck! ” ex¬ 
claimed she. “ Now I can have a nice duck’s 
egg for my breakfast. But perhaps it is a 
drake, after all! However, we shall see about 
that in good time.” Well, there the youngster 
remained three weeks; but without laying any 
eggs. 

At last, one morning, after a sleepless night, 
he felt a great longing to swim once more in 
the clear water. He could bear it no longer, 
and he spoke his' wish to the hen. 

“You are certainly crazy,” cried the hen; 
“ ask the cat, who is wiser than I, if he likes 
swimming in the water.” 

“ You do not understand me! ” sighed the 
duck. 

“ Not understand you, indeed! if we don’t, 
who should, you ugly yellow-beak! ” exclaimed 
Madam Hen. 

“ I am determined I will wander out into the 
world,” said the little drake, taking courage. 

“That you certainly should,” answered the 
46 





The Ugly Duckling . 

hen * and the poor duckling set off again on 
his travels. But no sooner did any animal see 
him, than he was sure to be mocked for his 
ugliness. 

The poor forsaken duckling was now worse 
off than before, for winter came on. It was 
so cold that our duckling was forced to keep 
swimming about in the water for fear of being 
frozen. But every night the ring in which 
he swam became smaller and smaller; the top 
of the ice kept growing thicker and thicker. 
At last he became so weary, that he was forced 
to remain fast frozen in the ice. 

Early in the morning a peasant passed by, 
and, seeing the unhappy bird, went on the ice, 
which he broke with his wooden shoe. He 
saved the half-dead creature, and carried him 
home to a warm fireside, where he quickly 
recovered. The children wished to play with 
him, but the young duckling, thinking they 
were bent on mischief, flew in his terror into 
an earthen milkcan, and splashed the milk all 
over the room. 

The housewife ran after him shouting, so 

47 





Golden Book of Tales. 

that the poor bird became more and more 
stupid, and flew first into the churn, and then 
into the meal-barrel. Then she tried to hit 
him with the tongs, while the children tumbled 
over one another in their haste to catch him. 

It was well for our duckling that the door 
stood open. He escaped into the open air, 
and, flying with difficulty to the nearest bushes, 
sank down on the snow, where he lay half 
dead. It would, indeed, be very mournful to 
tell all the miseries that the poor duckling 
went through until the sun again shone warmly 
on the earth, and the larks once more wel¬ 
comed spring with their songs. 

Then the young duckling raised his wings, 
which were much stronger than before, and 
flew far away to a lake in a large garden, 
where the apple-trees were in full bloom. And 
now there came out of the thicket three noble 
white swans, who began to swim lightly on the 
water. 

The ugly duckling, on seeing the stately 
birds, said to himself, “ I will fly toward these 
royal birds. They may kill me for my impu- 

48 





The Ugly Duckling . 

dence in daring to go near them, — I, who am 
so ugly. But it matters not: better it is to be 
killed by them than to be bitten by the ducks, 
pecked at by the hens, and chased about by the 
children.” With these thoughts he flew into 
the middle of the lake, and swam toward the 
three beautiful swans, who, noticing the little 
stranger, came to welcome him. 

“ Oh, just kill me outright,” said the poor 
bird, bending its head toward the water, — 
when, lo! it saw its own image in the clear 
surface, and instead of an ugly dark green 
duckling it beheld a stately swan . The larger 
swans came around him, and stroked him lov¬ 
ingly with their beaks. 

Just then two little children came into the 
garden, and, running to the lake, threw corn and 
bread down to the swans. 

“ Oh! there is a new one,” exclaimed the 
youngest child, and both clapped their hands 
for joy. Then they ran away to call their parents. 
So more bread and cake were thrown into the 
water, and all said, “The new one is the most 
beautiful — so young and so graceful! ” And, 
49 





Golden Book of Tales . 


indeed, the old swans themselves seemed proud 
of their new companion. 

Then the bird felt quite shy, and put his head 
under his wing; for, though his heart was burst¬ 
ing for joy, he was none the prouder. He 
blessed his former trials, which had taught him 
to value his new happiness. 

It matters little, being born in a duck-yard, 
if only one is hatched from a swan’s egg. 

5 ° 














THE BUTTERFLY’S BALL. 

OME, take up your hats, 

And away let us haste 
To the Butterfly’s ball 

And the Grasshopper’s feast: 

The trumpeter Gadfly 

Has summoned the crew, 
And the revels are now 
Only waiting for you. 


On the smooth-shaven grass 
By the side of the wood, 
Beneath a broad oak 
That for ages has stood, 


See the children of earth, 
And the tenants of air, 
5 1 
























Golden Book of Tales . 

For an evening’s amusement 
Together repair. 

And there came the Beetle, 

So blind and so black, 

Who carried the Emmet, 

His friend, on his back; 

And there was the Gnat, 

And the Dragon-fly too, 

With all their relations, 

Green, orange, and blue. 

And there came the Moth 
In his plumage of down ;' 

And the Hornet in jacket 
Of yellow and brown. 

Who with him the Wasp 
His companion did bring, 

But they promised that evening 
To lay by their sting. 

52 


















( 53 ) 


















































Golden Book of Tales. 

And the sly little Dormouse 
Crept out of his hole, 

And led to the feast 

His blind brother the Mole; 

And the Snail, with his horns 
Peeping out from his shell, 
Came from a great distance, — 
The length of an ell. 

A mushroom their table, 

And on it was laid 
A water-dock leaf, 

Which a table-cloth made; 

The viands were various, 

To each of their taste j 
And the Bee brought his honey 
To crown the repast. 

There, close on his haunches, 

So solemn and wise, 

The Frog from a corner 
Looked up to the skies ; 

54 





The Butterfly's Ball. 



And the Squirrel, well pleased 
Such diversion to see, 

Sat munching a nut 
Overhead in a tree. 

Then out came the Spider, 
With fingers so fine, 

To show his dexterity 
On the tight line ; 

From one branch to another 
His cobwebs he slung, 

Then as quick as an arrow 
He darted along. 

But just in the middle, 

Oh, shocking to tell! 

From his rope in an instant 
Poor Harlequin fell. 


55 


fra-*- 











Golden Book of Tales . 

Yet he touched not the ground, 
But with talons outspread, 

Hung suspended in air 
At the end of a thread. 

Then the Grasshopper came 
With a jerk and a spring: 

Very long was his leg, 

Though but short was his wing; 

He took but three leaps, 

And was soon out of sight, 

Then chirped his own praises 
The rest of the night. 

With step so majestic, 

The Snail did advance, 

And promised the gazers 
A minuet to dance ; 

But they all laughed so loud 
That he pulled in his head, 

And went in his own 
Little chamber to bed. 

56 










THE GOLDEN TOUCH. 

NCE upon a time, there lived a very 
rich man, and a king- besides, whose 
name was Midas ; and he had a little 
daughter, whom nobody but myself 
ever heard of, and whose name I 
either never knew, or have entirely 
forgotten. So, because I love odd 
names for little girls, I choose to call 
her Marygold. 

This King Midas was fonder of gold than of 
any thing else in the world. He valued his 
royal crown chiefly because it was composed of 
that precious metal. If he loved any thing 
better, or half so well, it was the one little 
maiden who played so merrily around her fa¬ 
ther’s footstool. But the more Midas loved his 
daughter, the more did he desire and seek for 
58 






















The Golden Touch. 


wealth. He thought, foolish man ! that the best 
thing he could possibly do for this dear child 
would be to bequeath her the immensest pile 
of yellow, glistening coin, that had ever been 
heaped together since the world was made. 

Thus he gave all his thoughts and all his 
time to this one purpose. If ever he happened 
to gaze for an instant at the gold-tinted clouds 
of sunset, he wished that they were real gold, 
and that they could be squeezed safely into his 
strong-box. When little Marygold ran to meet 
him, with a bunch of buttercups and dande¬ 
lions, he used to say, “ Poh, poh, child! If 
these flowers were as golden as they look, they 
would be worth the plucking! ” 

At length (as people always grow more and 
more foolish, unless they take care to grow wiser 
and wiser) Midas had got to be so exceedingly 
unreasonable, that he could scarcely bear to see 
or touch any object that was not gold. He 
made it his custom, therefore, to pass a large 
portion of every day in a dark and dreary apart¬ 
ment, under ground, at the basement of his pal¬ 
ace. It was here that he kept his wealth. To 
59 





Golden Book of Tales . 


this dismal hole — for it was little better than 
a dungeon — Midas betook himself, whenever 
he wanted to be particularly happy. 

Here, after carefully locking the door, he 
would take a bag of gold coin, or a gold cup 
as big as a wash-bowl, or a heavy golden bar,' 
or a peck-measure of gold-dust, and bring them 
from the obscure corners of the room into the 
one bright and narrow sunbeam that fell from 
the dungeon-like window. He valued the sun¬ 
beam for no other reason but that his treasure 
would not shine without its help. 

And then would he reckon over the coins in 
the bag; toss up the bar, and catch it as it 
came down ; sift the gold-dust through his fin¬ 
gers ; look at the funny image Of his own face, 
as reflected in the burnished circumference of 
the cup ; and whisper to himself, “ O Midas, 
rich King Midas, what a happy man art thou ! ” 
But it was laughable to see how the image of 
his face kept grinning at him, out of the pol¬ 
ished surface of the cup. It seemed to be 
aware of his foolish behavior, and to have a 
naughty inclination to make fun of him. 

60 









The Golden Touch. 


Midas called himself a happy man, but felt 
that he was not yet quite so happy as he might 
be. He wanted more. The very tiptop of enjoy¬ 
ment would never be reached, unless the whole 
world were to become his treasure-room, and 
be filled with yellow metal which should be all 
his own. 

Now, I need hardly remind such wise little 
people as you are, that in the old, old times, 
when King Midas was alive, a great many things 
came to pass, which we should consider wonder¬ 
ful if they were to happen in our own day and 
country. And, on the other hand, a great many 
things take place nowadays, which seem not 
only wonderful to us, but at which the people 
of old times would have stared their eyes out. 
On the whole, I regard our own times as the 
strangest of the two ; but, however that may 
be, I must go on with my story. 

Midas was enjoying himself in his treasure- 
room, one day, as usual, when he perceived a 
shadow fall over the heaps of gold ; and, look¬ 
ing suddenly up, what should he behold but the 
figure of a stranger, standing in the bright and 
61 





Golden Book of Tales. 

narrow sunbeam ! It was a young man, with a 
cheerful and ruddy face. 

Whether it was that the imagination of King 
Midas threw a yellow tinge over every thing, or 
whatever the cause might be, he could not help 
fancying that the smile with which the stranger 
regarded him had a kind of golden radiance in 
it. Certainly, although his figure intercepted 
the sunshine, there was now a brighter gleam 
upon all the piled-up treasures than before. 
Even the remotest corners had their share of 
it, and were lighted up, when the stranger 
smiled, as with tips of flame and sparkles of 
fire. 

As Midas knew that he had carefully turned 
the key in the lock, and that no mortal strength 
could possibly break into his treasure-room, he 
of course concluded that his visitor must be 
something more than mortal. It is no matter 
about telling you who he was. In those days, 
when the earth was comparatively a new affair, 
it was supposed to be often the resort of beings 
endowed with supernatural power, and who used 
to interest themselves in the joys and sorrows 

62 





The Golden Touch. 


of men, women, and children, half playfully and 
half seriously. 


Midas had met such beings before now, and 
was not sorry to meet one of them again. The 
stranger’s aspect, indeed, was so good-humored 



63 












Golden Book of Tales. 

It was far more probable that he came to do 
Midas a favor. And what could that favor be, 
unless to multiply his heaps of treasure? 

The stranger gazed about the room; and, 
when his lustrous smile had glistened upon all 
the golden objects that were there, he turned 
again to Midas. 

“ You are a wealthy man, friend Midas ! ” he 
observed. “ I doubt whether any other four 
walls on earth contain so much gold as you 
have contrived to pile up in this room.” 

“ I have done pretty well, — pretty well,” 
answered Midas, in a discontented tone. “ But, 
after all, it is but a trifle, when you consider 
that it has taken me my whole life to get it 
together. If one could live a thousand years, 
he might have time to grow rich.” 

“ What! ” exclaimed the stranger. “ Then you 
are not satisfied?” 

Midas shook his head. 

“ And pray, what would satisfy you ? ” asked 
the stranger. “ Merely for the curiosity of the 
thing, I should be glad to know.” 

Midas paused and meditated. He felt a pre- 

64 





The Golden Touch. 


sentiment that this stranger, with such a golden 
luster in his good-humored smile, had come 
hither with both the power and the purpose of 
gratifying his utmost wishes. Now, therefore, 
was the fortunate moment, when he had but to 
speak, and obtain whatever possible, or seem¬ 
ingly impossible thing, it might come into his 
head to ask. So he thought, and thought, and 
thought, and . heaped up one golden mountain 
upon another, in his imagination, without being 
able to imagine them big enough. At last a 
bright idea occurred to King Midas. It seemed 
really as bright as the glistening metal which 
he loved so much. 

Raising his head, he looked the lustrous 
stranger in the face. 

“ Well, Midas,” observed his visitor, “ I see 
that you have at length hit upon something 
that will satisfy you. Tell me your wish.” 

“ It is only this,” replied Midas. “ I am 
weary of collecting my treasures with so much 
trouble, and beholding the heap so diminutive, 
after I have done my best. I wish every thing 
that I touch to be changed to gold! ” 

65 





Golden Book of Tales. 

The stranger’s smile grew so very broad, that 
it seemed to fill the room like an outburst of 
the sun, gleaming into a shadowy dell, where 
the yellow autumnal leaves — for so looked the 
lumps and particles of gold — lie strewn in the 
glow of light. 

“The Golden Touch!” exclaimed he. “You 
certainly deserve credit, friend Midas, for strik¬ 
ing out so brilliant a conception. But are you 
quite sure that this will satisfy you ? ” 

“How could it fail?” said Midas. 

“ And will you never regret the possession 
of it?” 

“ What could induce me ? ” asked Midas. “ I 
ask nothing else, to render me perfectly happy.” 

“ Be it as you wish, then,” replied the stran¬ 
ger, waving his hand in token of farewell. 
“ To-morrow, at sunrise, you will find yourself 
gifted with the Golden Touch.” 

The figure of the stranger then became ex¬ 
ceedingly bright, and Midas involuntarily closed 
his eyes. On opening them again, he beheld 
only one yellow sunbeam in the room, and, all 
around him, the glistening of the precious 
66 





The Golden Touch. 


metal which he had spent his life in hoarding 

up. 

Whether Midas slept as usual that night, the 
story does not say. But when the earliest sun¬ 
beam shone through the window, and gilded 
the ceiling over his head, it seemed to him 
that this bright yellow sunbeam was reflected 
in rather a singular way on the white covering 
of the bed. Looking more closely, what was 
his astonishment and delight, when he found 
that this linen fabric had been transmuted to 
what seemed a woven texture of the purest and 
brightest gold! The Golden Touch had come 
to him with the first sunbeam ! 

Midas started up, in a kind of joyful frenzy, 
and ran about the room, grasping at every 
thing that happened to be in his way. He 
seized one of the bedposts, and it became 
immediately a fluted golden pillar. He pulled 
aside a window-curtain in order to admit a 
clear spectacle of the wonders which he was 
performing, and the tassel grew heavy in his 
hand, — a mass of gold. He took up a book 
from the table; at his first touch, it assumed 
67 





Golden Book of Tales . 

the appearance of such a splendidly bound and 
gilt-edged volume as one often meets with 
nowadays; but, on running his fingers through 
the leaves, behold ! it was a bundle of thin 
golden plates, in which all the wisdom of the 
book had grown illegible. 

He hurriedly put on his clothes, and was 
enraptured to see himself in a magnificent suit 
of gold cloth, which retained its flexibility and 
softness, although it burdened him a little with 
its weight. He drew out his handkerchief, 
which little Marygold had hemmed for him; 
that was likewise gold, with the dear child’s 
neat and pretty stitches running all along the 
border, in gold thread! 

Somehow or other, this last transformation 
did not quite please King Midas. He would 
rather that his little daughter’s handiwork 
should have remained just the same as when 
she climbed his knee and put it into his hand. 

But it was not worth while to vex himself 
about a trifle. Midas now took his spectacles 
from his pocket, and put them on his nose, in 
order that he might see more distinctly what 
68 





The Golden Touch. 


he was about. In those days, spectacles for 
common people had not been invented, but 
were already worn by kings; else, how could 
Midas have had any? To his great perplexity, 
however, excellent as the glasses were, he dis¬ 
covered that he could not possibly see through 
them. But this was the most natural thing in 
the world; for, on taking them off, the trans¬ 
parent crystals turned out to be plates of yellow 
metal, and, of course, were worthless as spec¬ 
tacles, though valuable as gold. It struck 
Midas as rather inconvenient, that, with all his 
wealth, he could never again be rich enough 
to own a pair of serviceable spectacles. 

“ It is no great matter, nevertheless,” said he 
to himself, very philosophically. “ We can not 
expect any great good, without its being accom¬ 
panied with some small inconvenience. The 
Golden Touch is worth the sacrifice of a pair 
of spectacles at least, if not of one’s very eye¬ 
sight. My own eyes will serve for ordinary 
purposes, and little Marygold will soon be old 
enough to read to me.” 

Wise King Midas was so exalted by his good 
69 






Golden Book of Tales. 

fortune, that the palace seemed not sufficiently 
spacious to contain him. He therefore went 
down stairs, and smiled on observing that the 
balustrade of the staircase became a bar of 
burnished gold, as his hand passed over it, in 
his descent. He lifted the door-latch (it was 
brass only a moment ago, but golden when his 
fingers quitted it), and emerged into the garden. 
Here, as it happened, he found a great number 
of beautiful roses in full bloom, and others in 
all the stages of lovely bud and blossom. Very 
delicious was their fragrance in the morning 
breeze. Their delicate blush was one of the 
fairest sights in the world ; so gentle, so modest, 
and so full of sweet tranquillity, did these roses 
seem to be. 

But Midas knew a way to make them far 
more precious, according to his way of thinking, 
than roses, had ever been before. So he took 
great pains in going from bush to bush, and 
exercised his magic touch most indefatigably; 
until every individual flower and bud, and even 
the worms at the heart of some of them, were 
changed to gold. By the time this good work 

70 







The Golden Touch. 


was completed, King Midas was summoned to 
breakfast; and, as the morning air had given 
him an excellent appetite, he made haste back 
to the palace. 

What was usually a king’s breakfast in the 
days of Midas, I really do not know, and can 
not stop now to investigate. To the best of my 
belief, however, on this particular morning the 
breakfast consisted of hot cakes, some nice little 
brook trout, roasted potatoes, fresh boiled eggs, 
and coffee for King Midas himself, and a bowl 
of bread and milk for his daughter Marygold. 
At all events, this is a breakfast fit to set before 
a king; and, whether he had it or not, King 
Midas could not have had a better. 

Little Marygold had not yet made her appear¬ 
ance. Her father ordered her to be called, and 
seating himself at table awaited the child’s com¬ 
ing, in order to begin his own breakfast. To 
do Midas justice, he really loved his daughter, 
and loved her so much the more this morning, 
on account of the good fortune which had 
befallen him. It was not a great while before 
he heard her coming along the passage-way, 
71 





Golde7t Book of Tales. 

crying bitterly. This circumstance surprised him, 
because Marygold was one of the cheerfullest 
little people whom you would see in a summer’s 
day, and hardly shed a thimbleful of tears in a 
twelvemonth. 

When Midas heard her sobs, he determined 
to put little Marygold into better spirits by an 
agreeable surprise ; so, leaning across the table, 
he touched his daughter’s bowl (which was a 
china one, with pretty figures all around it), 
and transmuted it to gleaming gold. 

Meanwhile, Marygold slowly and disconsolately 
opened the door, and showed herself with her 
apron at her eyes, still sobbing as if her heart 
would break. 

“ How now, my little lady! ” cried Midas. 
“ Pray, what is the matter with you, this bright 
morning ? ” 

Marygold, without taking the apron from her 
eyes, held out her hand, in which was one of the 
roses which Midas had so recently transmuted. 

“ Beautiful! ” exclaimed her father. “ And what 
is there in this magnificent golden rose to make 
you cry?” 

72 





The Golden Touch . 


“Ah, dear father!” answered the child, as 
well as her sobs would let her, “it is not beau¬ 
tiful, but the ugliest flower that ever grew! 
As soon as I was dressed, I ran into the gar¬ 
den to gather some roses for you; because I 
know you like them, and like them the better 
when gathered by your little daughter. But oh, 
dear, dear me ! What do you think has hap¬ 
pened? Such a misfortune! All the beautiful 
roses, that smelled so sweetly, and had so many 
lovely blushes, are blighted and spoilt ! They 
are grown quite yellow, as you see this one, 
and have no longer any fragrance! What can 
have been the matter with them ? ” 

“ Poh, my dear little girl, — pray don’t cry 
about it! ” said Midas, who was ashamed to 
confess that he himself had wrought the change 
which so greatly afflicted her. “ Sit down, and 
eat your bread and milk. You will find it easy 
enough to exchange a golden rose like that 
(which will last hundreds of years), for an ordi¬ 
nary one which would wither in a day.” 

“ I don’t care for such roses as this! ” cried 
Marygold, tossing it contemptuously away. “ It 
73 





Golden Book of Tales . 


has no smell, and the hard petals prick my 
nose!” 

The child now sat down to table, but was so 
occupied with her grief for the blighted roses 
that she did not even notice the wonderful 
transmutation of her china bowl. Perhaps this 
was all the better; for Marygold was accustomed 
to take pleasure in looking at the queer figures 
and strange trees and houses that were painted 
on the circumference of the bowl; and these 

is 

ornaments were now entirely lost in the yellow 
hue of the metal. 

Midas, meanwhile, had poured out a cup of 
coffee ; and, as a matter of course, the coffee¬ 
pot, whatever metal it may have been when he 
took it up, was gold when he set it down. He 
thought to himself that it was rather an extrava¬ 
gant style of splendor, in a king of his simple 
habits, to breakfast off a service of gold, and 
began to be puzzled with the difficulty of keep¬ 
ing his treasures safe. The cupboard and the 
kitchen would no longer be a secure place of 
deposit for articles so valuable as golden bowls 
and coffee-pots. 


74 








The Golden Touch . 


Amid these thoughts, he lifted a spoonful of 
coffee to his lips, and, sipping it, was astonished 
to perceive that, the instant his lips touched 
the liquid, it became molten gold, and, the next 
moment, hardened into a lump ! 

“Ha!” exclaimed Midas, rather aghast. 

“What is the matter, father?” asked little 
Marygold, gazing at him, with the tears still 
standing in her eyes. 

“Nothing, child, nothing!” said Midas. “Eat 
your milk, before it gets quite cold.” 

He took one of the nice little trouts on his 
plate, and, by way of experiment, touched its 
tail with his finger. To his horror, it was 
immediately transmuted from an admirably fried 
brook-trout into a gold fish, though not one of 
those gold-fishes which people often keep in 
glass globes, as ornaments for the parlor. No ; 
but it was really a metallic fish, and looked as 
if it had been very cunningly made by the 
nicest goldsmith in the world. Its little bones 
were now golden wires ; its fins and tail were 
thin plates of gold; and there were the marks 
of the fork in it, and all the delicate, frothy 
75 





Golden Book of Tales . 

appearance of a nicely fried fish, exactly imi¬ 
tated in metal. A very pretty piece of work, 
as you may suppose ; only King Midas, just at 
that moment, would much rather have had a 
real trout in his dish than this elaborate and 
valuable imitation of one. 

“ I don’t quite see,” thought he to himself, 
“ how I am to get any breakfast! ” 

He took one of the smoking-hot cakes, and 
had scarcely broken it, when, to his cruel mor¬ 
tification, though, a moment before, it had been 
of the whitest wheat, it assumed the yellow hue 
of Indian meal. To say the truth, if it had 
really been a hot Indian cake, Midas would 
have prized it a good deal more than he now 
did, when its solidity and increased weight 
made him too bitterly sensible that it was 
gold. Almost in despair, he helped himself 
to a boiled egg, which immediately underwent 
a change similar to those of the trout and 
the cake. The egg, indeed, might have 
been mistaken for one of those which the 
famous goose, in the story-book, was in the 
habit of laying; but King Midas was the only 
76 





The Golden Touch. 


goose that had had any thing to do with the 
matter. 

“ Well, this is a quandary! ” thought he, 
leaning back in his chair, and looking quite 
enviously at little Marygold, who was now eat¬ 
ing her bread and milk with great satisfaction, 
without appearing to notice him. “ Such a 
costly breakfast before me, and nothing that 
can be eaten ! ” 

Hoping that, by dint of great dispatch, he 
might avoid what he now felt to be a considera¬ 
ble inconvenience, King Midas next snatched a 
hot potato, and attempted to cram it into his 
mouth, and swallow it in a hurry. But the 
Golden Touch was too nimble for him. He 
found his mouth full, not of mealy potato, but 
of solid metal, which so burnt his tongue that 
he roared aloud, and, jumping up from the 
table, began to dance and stamp about the 
room, both with pain and affright. 

“Father, dear father!” cried little Marygold, 
who was a very affectionate child, “ pray what 
is the matter ? Have you burnt your mouth ? ” 

“ Ah, dear child,” groaned Midas dolefully, 

77 





Golden Book of Tales. 

“ I don’t know what is to become of your poor 
father! ” 

And, truly, my dear little folks, did you ever 
hear of such a pitiable case, in all your lives? 
Here was literally the richest breakfast that 
could be set before a king, and its very rich¬ 
ness made it absolutely good for nothing. The 
poorest laborer, sitting down to his crust of 
bread and cup of water, was far better off than 
King Midas, whose delicate food was really 
worth its weight in gold. 

And what was to be done ? Already, at 
breakfast, Midas was excessively hungry. Would 
he be less so by dinner-time ? And how rav¬ 
enous would be his appetite for supper, which 
must undoubtedly consist of the same sort of 
indigestible dishes as those now before him! 
How many days, think you, would he survive a 
continuance of this rich fare ? 

These reflections so troubled wise King Midas, 
that he began to doubt whether, after all, riches 
are the one desirable thing in the world, or 
even the most desirable. But this was only a 
passing thought. So fascinated was Midas with 
78 





The Golden Touch. 


the glitter of the yellow metal, that he would 
still have refused to give up the Golden Touch 
for so paltry a consideration as a breakfast. 
Just imagine what a price for one meal’s vict¬ 
uals ! It would have been the same as paying 
millions and millions of money (and as many 
millions more as would take for ever to reckon 
up) for some fried trout, an egg, a potato, a 
hot cake, and a cup of coffee ! 

“ It would be quite too dear,” thought Midas. 

Nevertheless, so great was his hunger, and 
the perplexity of his situation, that he again 
groaned aloud, and very grievously too. Our 
pretty Marygold could endure it no longer. 
She sat a moment, gazing at her father, and 
trying, with all the might of her little wits, to 
find out what was the matter with him. Then, 
with a sweet and sorrowful impulse to comfort 
him, she started from her chair, and, running 
to Midas, threw her arms affectionately about 
his knees. He bent down and kissed her. He 
felt that his little daughter’s love was worth a 
thousand times more than he had gained by 
the Golden Touch. 

79 





Golden Book of Tales . 

“ My precious, precious Marygold ! ” cried he. 

But Marygold made no answer. 

Alas, what had he done ? How fatal was 
the gift which the stranger bestowed! The 
moment the lips of Midas touched Marygold’s 
forehead, a change had taken place. Her sweet, 
rosy face, so full of affection as it had been, 
assumed a glittering yellow color, with yellow 
tear-drops congealing on her cheeks. Her 
beautiful brown ringlets took the same tint. 
Her soft and tender little form grew hard and 
inflexible within her father’s encircling arms. 
Oh, terrible misfortune! The victim of his 
insatiable desire for wealth, little Marygold 
was a human child no longer, but a golden 
statue! 

Yes, there she was, with the questioning 
look of love, grief, and pity, hardened into her 
face. It was the prettiest and most woful 
sight that ever mortal saw. All the features 
and tokens- of Marygold were there; even the 
beloved little dimple remained in her golden 
chin. But, the more perfect was the resem¬ 
blance, the greater was the father’s agony at 

80 





The Golden Touch. 


beholding this golden image, which was all that 
was left him of a daughter. 

It had been a favorite phrase of Midas, when¬ 
ever he felt particularly fond of the child, to 
say that she was worth her weight in gold. 
And now the phrase had become literally true. 
And now, at last, when it was too late, he 
felt how infinitely a warm and tender heart, 
that loved him, exceeded in value all the wealth 
that could be piled up betwixt the earth and 
sky! 

It would be too sad a story, if I were to tell 
you how Midas, in the fullness of all his grati¬ 
fied desires, began to wring his hands and 
bemoan himself; and how he could neither 
bear to look at Marygold, nor yet to look 
away from her. Except when his eyes were 
fixed on the image, he could not possibly 
believe that she was changed to gold. But, 
stealing another glance, there was the precious 
little figure, with a yellow tear-drop on its yel¬ 
low cheek, and a . look so piteous and tender 
that it seemed as if that very expression must 
needs soften the gold and make it flesh again. 

81 





Golden Book of Tales . 

This, however, could not be. So Midas had 
only to wring his hands, and to wish that he 
were the poorest man in the wide world, if the 
loss of all his wealth might bring back the 
faintest rose-color to his dear child’s face. 

While he was in this tumult of despair, he 
suddenly beheld a stranger, standing near the 
door. Midas bent down his head, without speak¬ 
ing ; for he recognized the same figure which 
had appeared to him, the day before, in the 
treasure-room, and had bestowed on him this 
disastrous faculty of the Golden Touch. The 
stranger’s countenance still wore a smile, which 
seemed to shed a yellow luster all about the 
room, and gleamed on little Marygold’s image, 
and on the other objects that had been trans¬ 
muted by the touch of Midas. 

“ Well, friend Midas,” said the stranger, 
“ pray, how do you succeed with the Golden 
Touch ?” 

Mida^ shook his head. 

“ I am very miserable,” said he. 

“Very miserable, indeed!” exclaimed the 
stranger. “And how happens that? Have I 

82 





The Golden Touch. 


not faithfully kept my promise with you ? Have 
you not every thing that your heart desired ? ” 

“ Gold is not every thing,” answered Midas. 
“ And I have lost all that my heart really cared 
for.” 

“ Ah ! So you have made a discovery, since 
yesterday?” observed the stranger. “Let us 
see, then. Which of these two things do you 
think is really worth the most, — the gift of the 
Golden Touch, or one cup of clear cold water ? ” 

“ O blessed water! ” exclaimed Midas. “ It 
will never moisten my parched throat again ! ” 

“ The Golden Touch,” continued the stranger, 
“or a crust of bread?” 

“ A piece of bread,” answered Midas, “ is 
worth all the gold on earth ! ” 

“The Golden Touch,” asked the stranger, “or 
your own little Marygold, warm, soft, and lov¬ 
ing, as she was an hour ago ? ” 

“O my child, my dear child!” cried poor 
Midas, wringing his hands. “ I would not have 
given that one small dimple in her chin for the 
power of changing this whole big earth into a 
solid lump of gold ! ” 

83 




Golden Book of Tales . 

“You are wiser than you were, King Midas!” 
said the stranger, looking seriously at him. 
“Your own heart, I perceive, has not been 
entirely changed from flesh to gold. Were it 
so, your case would indeed be desperate. But 
you appear to be still capable of understanding 
that the commonest things, such as lie within 
everybody’s grasp, are more valuable than the 
riches which so many mortals sigh and struggle 
after. Tell me, now, do you sincerely desire 
to rid yourself of this Golden Touch ? ” 

“ It is hateful to me! ” replied Midas. 

A fly settled on his nose, but immediately 
fell to the floor; for it, too, had become gold. 
Midas shuddered. 

“ Go, then,” said the stranger, “ and plunge 
into the river that glides past the bottom of 
your garden. Take likewise a vase of the same 
water, and sprinkle it over any object that you 
may desire to change back again from gold 
into its former substance. If you do this 
in earnestness and sincerity, it may possibly 
repair the mischief which your avarice has oc¬ 
casioned.” 

84 





The Golden Touch . 


King Midas bowed low; and when he lifted 
his head, the lustrous stranger had vanished. 

You will easily believe that Midas lost no 
time in snatching up a great earthen pitcher 
(but, alas me! it was no longer earthen after 
he touched it), and hastening to the river-side. 
As he scampered along, and forced his way 
through the shrubbery, it was positively mar¬ 
velous to see how the foliage turned yellow 
behind him, as if the autumn had been there, 
and nowhere else. On reaching the river’s 
brink, he plunged headlong in, without waiting 
so much as to pull off his shoes. 

“Poof! poof! poof!” snorted King Midas, as 
his head emerged out of the water. “Well; 
this is really a refreshing bath, and I think it 
must have quite washed away the Golden 
Touch. And now for filling my pitcher! ” 

As he dipped the pitcher into the water, it 
gladdened his very heart to see it change from 
gold into the same good, honest earthen vessel 
which it had been before he touched it. He 
was conscious, also, of a change within himself. 
A cold, hard, and heavy weight seemed to have 
85 





Golden Book of Tales . 

gone out of his bosom. No doubt, his heart 
had been gradually losing its human substance, 
and transmuting itself into insensible metal, but 
had now softened back again into flesh. Per¬ 
ceiving a violet, that grew on the bank of the 
river, Midas touched it with his finger, and was 
overjoyed to find that the delicate flower re¬ 
tained its purple hue, instead of undergoing a 
yellow blight. The curse of the Golden Touch 
had, therefore, really been removed from him. 

King Midas hastened back to the palace; 
and, I suppose, the servants knew not what to 
make of it when they saw their royal master so 
carefully bringing home an earthen pitcher of 
water. But that water, which was to undo all 
the mischief that his folly had wrought, was 
more precious to Midas than an ocean of molten 
gold could have been. The first thing he did, 
as you need hardly be told, was to sprinkle it 
by handfuls over the golden figure of little 
Marygold. 

No sooner did it fall on her than you would 
have laughed to see how the rosy color came 
back to the dear child’s cheek! — and how she 
86 







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Golden Book of Tales . 

began to sneeze and sputter! — and how aston¬ 
ished she was to find herself dripping wet, and 
her father still throwing more water over her! 

“ Pray do not, dear father ! ” cried she. “ See 
how you have wet my nice frock, which I put 
on only this morning! ” 

For Marygold did not know that she had 
been a little golden statue; nor could she 
remember any thing that had happened since 
the moment when she ran with outstretched 
arms to comfort poor King Midas. 

Her father did not think it necessary to tell 
his beloved child how very foolish he had been, 
but contented himself with showing how much 
wiser he had now grown. For this purpose, he 
led little Marygold into the garden, where he 
sprinkled all the remainder of the water over 
the rose-bushes, and with such good effect that 
above five thousand roses recovered their beau¬ 
tiful bloom. There were two circumstances, 
however, which, as long as he lived, used to 
put King Midas in mind of the Golden Touch. 
One was, that the sands of the river sparkled 
like gold; the other, that little Marygold’s hair 
88 






The Golden Touch. 


had now a golden tinge, which he had never 
observed in it before she had been transmuted 
by the effect of his kiss. This change of hue 
was really an improvement, and made Mary- 
gold’s hair richer than in her babyhood. 

When King Midas had grown quite an old 
man, and used to trot Marygold’s children on 
his knee,, he was fond of telling them this mar¬ 
velous story, pretty much as I have now told 
it to you. And then would he stroke their 
glossy ringlets, and tell them that their hair, 
likewise, had a rich shade of gold, which they 
had inherited from their mother. 

“ And, to tell you the truth, my precious 
little folks,” quoth King Midas, diligently trotting 
the children all the while, “ ever since that 
morning, I have hated the very sight of all 
other gold, save this ! ” 

89 







LILLIPUT LEVEE. 

HERE does Pinafore Palace stand ? 
Right in the middle of Lilliput Land! 
There the queen eats bread and honey; 
There the king counts up his money. 

Oh, what a wonderful change to see! 
Nothing is dull as it used to be, 

Since the children, by clever bold strokes, 

Have turned the tables upon the old folks. 

Now the thing was easily done, 

The children being two to one; 

Brave as lions, quick as foxes, 

With hoards of wealth in money-boxes. 

90 












Lilliput Levee . 

They seized the keys, patrolled the street, 
Drove the policeman off his beat, 

Built barricades, and stationed sentries : 

Give the word when you come to the entries! 

They dressed themselves in riflemen’s clothes ; 
They had pea-shooters and arrows and bows, 

So as to put resistance down : 

Order reigns in Lilliput Town. 

They went to the druggist’s, broke in the door, 
And scattered the physic all over the floor; 
They went to the schoolroom, and hid the books ; 
They munched the puffs at the pastry-cook’s. 

They sucked the jam, they lost the spoons, 
They sent up dozens of fire-balloons, 

They let off crackers, they burnt a guy, 

They piled a bonfire ever so high. 

They offered a prize for the laziest boy, 

And one for the most magnificent toy; 

They split or burnt the canes off-hand, 

And made new laws in Lilliput Land. 

91 





Golden Book of Tales. 

Never do to-day what you can 

Put off till to-morrow , one of them ran ; 

Late to bed , and late to rise , 

Was another law which they devised. 

They passed a law to have always plenty 
Of beautiful things: we shall mention twenty, — 
A magic lantern for all to see, 

Rabbits to keep, and a Christmas-tree, — 

A boat, a house that went on wheels, 

An organ to grind, and tarts at meals, 

Drums and wheelbarrows, Roman candles, 
Whips with whistles in the handles, — 

A real live giant, a roc to fly, 

A goat to tease, a copper to sky, 

A garret of apples, a box of paints, 

A saw, and a hammer, and no complaints. 

Nail up the door, slide down the stairs, 

Saw off the legs of the parlor chairs,— 

That was the way in Lilliput Land, 

The children having the upper hand. 

92 





Lilliput Levee. 


They made the old folks come to school 
All in pinafores, — that was the rule, — 
Saying, Eener-deener-diner-duss, 

Ka tiler-wheeler-wh Her- wuss. 

They made them learn all sorts of things 
That nobody liked. They had catechisings; 
They kept them in, they sent them down 
In class, in school, in Lilliput Town. 



Oh, but they gave them tit for tat! 

Bread without butter, — stale at that,— 
Stick-jaw pudding that tires your chin, 

The marmalade on it ever so thin. 

They governed the clock in Lilliput Land : 
They altered the hour or the minute hand ; 
They made the day fast, or made it slow, 
Just as they wished the time to go. 

93 














Golden Book of Tales. 

They never waited for king or for cat, 

Or stopped to wipe their shoes on the mat; 

Their joy was great; their joy was greater; 

They rode in baby’s perambulator! 

There was a levee in Lilliput Town 

At Pinafore Palace. Smith and Brown, 
Jones and Robinson, had to go,— 

All the old folks, whether or no. 


Every one rode in a cab to the door, 
Every one came in a pinafore: 

Lady and gentleman, rat-tat-tat, 

Loud knock, proud knock, opera hat. 


The palace, bright with silver and gold, 
Was full of guests as it could hold. 

The ladies kissed her Majesty’s hand: 
Such was the custom in Lilliput Land. 


His Majesty knighted eight or ten, 
Perhaps a score, of the gentlemen ; 
Some of them short, and some of them 
Arise , Sir What's-a-name What-do-you- 

94 

tall; 
call! 





Lilliput Levee. 

Nuts and nutmeg (that’s in the negus) : 
The bill of fare would perhaps fatigue us ; 
Forty fiddlers to play the fiddle : 

Right foot, left foot, down the middle. 

Conjurer’s tricks, with poker and tongs, 
Riddles and forfeits, comical songs; 

One fat fellow, too fat by far, 

Tried “ Twinkle, twinkle, little star!” 

His voice was gruff, his pinafore tight ; 

His wife said, “Mind, dear, sing it right;” 
But he forgot, and said “ Fa-la,” — 

The Queen of Lilliput’s own papa! 

She frowned, and ordered him up to bed ; 
He said he was sorry ; she shook her head : 
His clean shirt-front with tears was stained, 
But discipline must be maintained. 

Now, since little folk wear the crown, 

Order reigns in Lilliput Town ; 

And Jack is king and Jill is queen 
In the very best government ever seen. 

95 






THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER. 



HERE was once a shoemaker who 
worked very hard, and was very hon¬ 
est. Yet he could not earn enough 
to live upon, and at last all he had 
in the world was gone, — all except 
just leather enough to make one pair 
of shoes. In the evening he cut out 
the leather, meaning to get up early 
in the morning to work. His con¬ 
science was clear and his heart light amidst all 
his troubles; so he went peaceably to bed, left 
all Ms cares to God, and fell asleep. . 

In the morning he sat down to his work; 
but what did he see ? The pair of shoes already 
made! There they were on his work-bench. 
The poor man could scarcely believe his eyes, 
and did not know what to say. He took up 

96 




















The Elves and the Shoemaker . 


the shoes to look at them more closely. There 
was not a false stitch in them : they were just 
like shoes made for a prize. 

That day a customer came, and the shoes 
pleased him so well that he willingly paid a 
higher price than usual for them. With the 
money the shoemaker was able to buy leather 
for two pairs more. In the evening he cut out 
the work, and went to bed early that he might 
get up betimes next day; but he was saved 
all the trouble, for when he got up in the 
morning the work was already done. Presently 
in came customers who paid him handsomely 
for his goods, so that he bought leather enough 
for four pairs more. 

Again he cut out the work over night, and 
again found it finished in the morning. And 
so it went on for some time : what was got 
ready in the evening was always done by day¬ 
break, and the good man soon became thriving 
and prosperous again. 

One evening, about Christmas time, as he and 
his wife were sitting over the fire chatting to¬ 
gether, he said to her, “ I should like to sit up 
97 





Golden Book of Tales. 

and watch to-night, that we may see who it is 
that comes and does my work for me.” The 
wife liked the idea. So they left a light burn¬ 
ing, and hid themselves in the corner of the 
room behind a curtain that was hung up there, 
and watched what should happen. 

As soon as it was midnight, there came two 
little naked dwarfs. They sat down upon the 
shoemaker’s bench, took up all the work that 
was cut out, and began to ply with their little 
fingers, stitching and rapping and tapping away 
at such a rate that the shoemaker was all 
amazement, and could not take his eyes off for a 
moment. On they went till the task was quite 
finished, and the shoes stood ready for use 
upon the table. This was long before day¬ 
break ; and then they bustled away as quick as 
lightning. 

The next day the wife said to the shoemaker, 
“These little folk have made us rich, and we 
ought to be thankful to them, and do them a 
service in return. I am quite vexed to see 
them run about as they do ; they have nothing 
upon their backs to keep off the cold. I’ll tell 

98 





The Elves and the Shoemaker. 


you what: I will make each of them a shirt 
and a coat and waistcoat, and a pair of panta¬ 
loons. Do you make each of them a little pair 
of shoes.” 



The thought pleased the good shoemaker very 
much ; and one evening, when all the things 
were ready, they laid them on the table instead 

99 




























Golden Book of Tales. 


of the work that they used to cut out, and then 
went and hid themselves to watch what the 
little elves would do. About midnight they 
came in, and were going to sit down to their 
work as usual; but when they saw the clothes 
lying there for them, they laughed, and were 
greatly delighted. Then they dressed themselves 
in the twinkling of an eye, and danced and 
capered and sprang about as merry as could be, 
till at last they danced out of the door over the 
green. The shoemaker saw them no more ; 
but every thing went well with him from that 
time forward, as long as he lived. 

IOO 



V 










THE YARN OF THE “NANCY BELL” 

Si was on the shores that round 
coast 

From Deal to Ramsgate span, 
That I found alone on a piece 
stone 

An elderly naval man. 


His hair was weedy, his beard was long, 
And weedy and long was he; 

IOI 


our 

of 















Golden Book of Tales. 

And I heard this wight on the shore recite, 

In a singular minor key: — 

“ Oh, I am a cook and a captain bold, 

And the mate of the ‘Nancy’ brig, 

And a bo’sun tight, and a midshipmite, 

And the crew of the captain’s gig.” 

And he shook his fists, and he tore his hair, 
Till I really felt afraid, 

For I couldn’t help thinking the man had been 
drinking, 

And so I simply said : — 

“ Oh, elderly man, it’s little I know 
Of the duties of men of the sea; 

And I’ll eat my hand if I understand 
How ever you can be 

“ At once a cook, and a captain bold, 

And the mate of the ‘ Nancy’ brig, 

And a bo’sun tight, and a midshipmite, 

And the crew of the captain’s gig.” 

102 





The Yarn of the “Nancy Bell!' 

Then he gave a hitch to his trousers, which 
Is a trick all seamen larn, 

And, having got rid of a thumping quid, 

He spun this painful yarn : — 

“ Twas in the good ship ‘Nancy Bell’ 

That we sailed to the Indian Sea; 

And there on a reef we came to grief, 

Which has often occurred to me. 

“ And pretty nigh all the crew was drowned 
(There was seventy-seven o’ soul), 

And only ten of the ‘ Nancy’s ’ men 
Said ‘ Here! ’ to the muster-roll. 

“ There was me and the cook and the captain bold, 
And the mate of the ‘ Nancy ’ brig, 

And the bo’sun tight, and a midshipmite, 

And the crew of the captain’s gig. 

“ For a month we’d neither wittles nor drink, 
Till a-hungry we did feel, 

So we drawed a lot, and acordin’ shot 
The captain for our meal. 

103 







Golden Book of Tales. 

“ The next lot fell to the ‘ Nancy’s ’ mate, 

And a delicate dish he made ; 

Then our appetite with the midshipmite 
We seven survivors stayed. 

“ And then we murdered the bo’sun tight, 

And he much resembled pig; 

Then we wittled free, did the cook and me, 

On the crew of the captain’s gig. 

“ Then only the cook and me was left; 

And the delicate question, ‘Which 
Of us two goes to the kettle ? ’ arose, 

And we argued it out as sich. 

“ For I loved that cook as a brother, I did, 
And the cook he worshiped me; 

But we’d both be blowed if we’d either be stowed 
In the other chap’s hold, you see. 

“ ‘ I’ll be eat if you dines off me,’ says Tom ; 

‘ Yes, that,’ says I, ‘ you’ll be — 

I’m boiled if I die, my friend,’ quoth I ; 

And ‘ Exactly so,’ quoth he. 

104 





The Yarn of the “Nancy Bell” 

“Says he: ‘Dear James, to murder me 
Were a foolish thing to do, 

For don’t you see that you can’t cook me , 
While I can — and will — cook you ! ’ 

“So he boils the water, and takes the salt 
And the pepper in portions true 
(Which he never forgot), and some chopped shalot, 
And some sage and parsley too. 

“ ‘ Come here,’ said he, with a proper pride 
Which his smiling features tell: 

‘ ’Twill soothing be if I let you see 
How extremely nice you’ll smell.’ 

“And he stirred it round and round and round, 
And he sniffed at the foaming froth ; 

When I ups with his heels, and smothers his 
squeals 

In the scum of the boiling broth. 

“And I eat that cook in a week or less, 

And — as I eating be 

The last of his chops, why, I almost drops, 

For a wessel in sight I see ! 

105 








Golden Book of Tales. 

“ And I never larf, and I never smile, 
And I never lark nor play, 

But sit and croak, and a single joke 
I have — which is to say : — 

“ Oh, I am a cook and a captain bold, 
And the mate of the ‘Nancy’ brig, 
And a bo’sun tight, and a midshipmite, 
And the crew of the captain’s gig! ” 



106 



\ V 










RUMPEL-STILTS-KIN. 

a certain kingdom once lived a poor 
miller who had a very beautiful daugh¬ 
ter. Now, it happened that he came 
to speak to the king, and, to give 
himself importance, he said to him, 
“ I have a daughter who can spin 
straw into gold.” 

The king, who was very fond of money, said 
to the miller, “ That is a talent that pleases me 
well. If she be as skillful as you say, bring 
her to-morrow to the palace, and I will put her 
to the proof.” 

When the maiden was brought to him, he 
led her to a room full of straw, gave her a 
wheel and spindle, and said, “ Now set to work, 
and if by the morrow this straw be not spun 



107 
















Golden Book of Tales. 

into gold, you shall die.” Then he locked the 
door, and left the maiden alone. 

The poor girl sat down disconsolate, and 
could not for her life think what she was to 
do ; for she knew not — how could she ? — the 
way to spin straw into gold; and her distress 
increased so much, that at last she began to 
weep. All at once the door opened, and a 
droll-looking little man hobbled in and said, 
“ Good-evening, my pretty miller’s daughter; 
why are you weeping so bitterly ? ” 

“ Alas! ” answered the maiden, “ I must spin 
straw into gold, and know not how to do it.” 
The little man said, “ What will you give me 
if I do it for you?” — “My neckerchief,” said 
the maiden. 

He took the kerchief, sat down before the 
wheel, and grind, grind, grind, — three times 
did he grind, — and the spindle was full. Then 
he put another thread on, and grind, grind, 
grind, the second was full. So he spun on till 
morning, when all the straw was spun, and all 
the spindles were full of gold. 

The king came at sunrise, and was greatly 

108 





Rmnpelstiltskin. 


astonished and overjoyed at the sight; but it 
only made his heart the more greedy for gold. 
He put the millers daughter into another much 



larger room, full of straw, and ordered her to 
spin it all in one night, if life were dear to her. 
The poor helpless maiden began to weep, when 
once more the door flew open, and the little 

109 














Golden Book of Tales. 

man appeared and said, “ What will you give 
me if I spin this straw into gold ? ” 

“ My ring from my finger,” answered the 
maiden. The little man took the ring, began 
to turn the wheel, and, by the morning, all the 
straw was spun into shining gold. 

The king was highly delighted when he saw 
it, but was not yet satisfied with the quantity 
of gold; so he put the damsel into a still 
larger room, full of straw, and said, “ Spin this 
during the night; and if you do it, you shall 
be my queen.” “ For,” he thought, “ if she is 
only a miller’s daughter, I shall never find a 
richer wife in the whole world.” 

As soon as the damsel was alone, the little man 
came the third time, and said, “ What will you 
give me if I again spin all this straw for you ? ” 

“ T have nothing more to give you,” answered 
the girl. 

“ Then promise, if you become queen, to 
give me your first child.” 

“ Who knows how that may be, or how 
things may turn out between now and then ? ” 
thought the girl; but in her perplexity she 

IIO 





Rumpelstiltskin . 


could not help herself. So she promised the 
little man what he desired, and he spun all 
the straw into gold. 

When the king came in the morning, and 
saw that his orders had been obeyed, he mar¬ 
ried the maiden, and the beautiful millers 
daughter became a queen. By and by she had 
a lovely baby, but she quite forgot the little 
man, till he walked suddenly into her chamber, 
and said, “ Give me what you promised me.” 
The queen was frightened, and offered the 
dwarf all the riches of the kingdom if he would 
only leave her the child. But he answered, 
“ No; something living is dearer to me than 
all the treasures of the world.” 

Then the queen began to grieve and to weep 
so bitterly, that the little man took pity upon 
her, and said, “ I will give you three days; if 
in that time you can find out my name, you 
shall keep your child.” 

All night long the queen thought over every 
name she had ever heard, and sent a messenger 
through the kingdom, to inquire what names 
were usually given to people in that country. 


n 










Golden Book of Tales . 

Next day, when the little man came again, she 
began with Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar, and 
repeated, each after each, all the names she 
knew or had heard of. But at each one the 

little man said, “ That is not my name.” 

The second day she again sent round about 
in all directions, to ask how the people were 
called, and repeated to the little man the 
strangest names she could hear of or imagine, 
— such as Bandy-legs, Hunch-back, Crook- 
shanks, and so on. But at each he answered 
as before, “ That is not my name.” 

The third day the messenger returned and 
said, “ I have not been able to find a single 

new name; but as I came over a high moun¬ 
tain by a wood, where the fox and the hare bid 
each other good-night, I saw a little hut, and 

before the hut was burning a little fire, and 

round the fire danced a very funny little man, 
who hopped upon one leg, and cried out, — 

* To-day I brew, to-morrow I bake, 

Next day the queen’s child I shall take; 

How glad I am that nobody knows 
My name is Rumpelstiltskin ! ’ ” 

112 





Rumpelstiltskin. 



When the queen heard this, she jumped for 
joy; and when, soon after, the little man entered 
and said, “ Now, lady, what is my name ? ” she 
asked him mischievously, “ Is your name Hans? ” 
“ No.” 


“ Is your name Carl ? ” 

“ No.” 

“ Are you not sometimes called Rumpelstilts¬ 
kin ? ” 

“3 






Golden Book of Tales. 


“ Some witch told you that — some witch told 
you ! ” shrieked the poor little man, and stamped 
so furiously with his right foot that it sunk into 
the floor, and he was forced to lay hold of it 
with both hands to pull it out. Then he made 
the best of his way off, while everybody laughed 
at him for having had all his trouble for nothing. 

114 






















THE TWO ANCHORS. 

IT was a gallant sailor man, 

Had just come home from sea, 
And, as I passed him in the town, 
He sang “ Ahoy! ” to me. 

I stopped, and saw I knew the man, 
Had known him from a boy ; 
And so I answered, sailor-like, 

“ Avast! ” to his “ Ahoy! ” 

I made a song for him one day, — 
His ship was then in sight, — 

“The little anchor on the left, 

The great one on the right.” 


I gave his hand a hearty grip. 

“So you are back again? 

They say you have been pirating 
Upon the Spanish Main ; 

”5 







Golden Book of Tales. 

Or was it some rich Indiaman 
You robbed of all her pearls? 

Of course you have been breaking hearts 
Of poor Kanaka girls! ” 

“ Wherever I have been,” he said, 

“ I kept my ship in sight,— 

‘ The little anchor on the left, 

The great one on the right.’ ” 

“ I heard last night that you were in : 

I walked the wharves to-day, 

But saw no ship that looked like yours. 

Where does the good ship lay ? 

I want to go on board of her.” 

“ And so you shall,” said he ; 

“ But there are many things to do 
When one comes home from sea. 

You know the song you made for me? 

I sing it morn and night, — 

‘ The little anchor on the left, 

The great one on the right.’ ” 

“ But how’s your wife and little one ? ” 

“ Come home with me,” he said. 

116 






The Two Anchors . 


Go on, go on : I follow you.” 
I followed where he led. 


He had a pleasant little house; 

The door was open wide, 

And at the door the dearest face,— 
A dearer one inside. 

ii 7 




















Golden Book of Tales . 

He hugged his wife and child ; he sang, — 
His spirits were so light, — 

“ The little anchor on the left, 

The great one on the right.” 

’Twas supper-time, and we sat down, — 

The sailors wife and child, 

And he and I : he looked at them, 

And looked at me, and smiled. 

“ I think of this when I am tossed 
Upon the stormy foam, 

And, though a thousand leagues away, 

Am anchored here at home.” 

Then, giving each a kiss, he said, 

“ I see, in dreams at night, 

This little anchor on my left, 

This great one on my right.” ' 

118 







THE KING AND THE LOCUSTS: A STORY 
WITHOUT AN END. 

HERE was a certain king, who, like 
many other kings, was fond of hearing 
stories told. To this amusement he 
gave up all his time ; and yet he was 
never satisfied. All the exertions of 
all his courtiers were in vain : the 
more he heard, the more he wanted to hear. 

At last he made a proclamation, that if any 
man would tell him a story that should last 
for ever, he would make him his heir, and give 
him the princess, his daughter, in marriage ; but 
if any one should pretend that he had such a 
story, and should fail (that is, if the story did 
come to an end), he was to have his head 
chopped off. 

For such a prize as a beautiful princess and 

119 






















Golden Book of Tales. 

a kingdom, many candidates appeared ; and 
dreadfully long stories most of them told. 
Some lasted a week, some a month, some six 
months. Poor fellows! they all spun them out 
as long as they possibly could, you may be 
sure. But all in vain : sooner or later they all 
came to an end; and one after another, the 
unlucky story-tellers had their heads chopped 
off. 

At last came a man who said he had a story 
which would last for ever, if his majesty would 
be pleased to give him a trial. He was warned 
of his danger, and told how many others had 
tried, and lost their heads ; but he said he was 
not afraid, and so he was brought before the 
king. He was a man of a very composed and 
deliberate manner of speaking; and, after mak¬ 
ing - all requisite stipulations for time for his 
eating, drinking, and sleeping, he thus began 
his story : — 

“ O king! there was once a king who was a 
great tyrant. And, desiring to increase his 
riches, he seized upon all the wheat and other 
grain in his kingdom, and put it into an im- 

120 





The King and the Locusts . 

mense granary, which he built on purpose, as 
high as a mountain. This he did for several 
years, till the granary was quite full up to the 
top. He then stopped up doors and windows, 
and dosed it up fast on all sides. 

“ But the bricklayers had, by accident, left a 
very small hole near the top of the granary. 
And there came a flight of locusts, and tried 
to get at the corn ; but the hole was so small 
that only one locust could pass through it at a 
time. So one locust went in, and carried off 
one grain of corn ; and then another locust went 
in, and carried off another grain of corn ; and 
then another locust went in, and carried off 
another grain of corn ; and then another locust 
went in, and carried off another grain of corn ; 
and then another locust went in, and carried 
off another grain of corn ; and then another 
locust went in, and carried off another grain of 
corn; and then another locust went in, and 
carried off another grain of corn ” — 

He had gone on thus from morning till night 
(except while he was engaged at his meals) 
for about a month, when the king, though a 
121 





Golden Book of Tales. 

very patient king, began to be rather tired of 
the locusts, and interrupted his story with: 
“ Well, well, we have had enough of the lo¬ 
custs. We will suppose that they have helped 
themselves to all the corn they wanted; tell 
us what happened afterwards.” To which the 
story-teller answered, very deliberately, “If it 
please your majesty, it is impossible to tell you 
what happened afterwards before I have told 
you what happened first.” 

And so he went on again : “ And then 

another locust went in, and carried off another 
grain of corn ; and then another locust went in, 
and carried off another grain of corn ; and then 
another locust went in, and carried off another 
grain of corn.” The king listened with admira¬ 
ble patience six months more, when he again 
interrupted him: “ O friend, I am weary of 
your locusts! How soon do you think they 
will have done ? ” 

To which the story-teller made answer: “O 
king, who can tell? At the time to which my 
story has come, the locusts have cleared away 
a small space, it may be a cubit, each way 
122 





The King and the Locusts. 


round the inside of the hole; and the air is 
still dark with locusts on all sides. But let 


















Golden Book of Tales. 


another year, the story-teller going on as be¬ 
fore: “And then another locust went in, and 
carried off another grain of corn ; and then 
another locust went in, and carried off another 
grain of corn; and then another locust went 
in, and carried off another grain of corn ; ” till 
at last the poor king could bear it no longer, 
and cried out, “ O man, that is enough! Take 
my daughter! take my kingdom! take any 
thing — take every thing! only let us hear no 
more of those abominable locusts! ” 

And so the story-teller was married to the 
king’s daughter, and was declared heir to the 
throne ; and nobody ever expressed a wish to 
hear the rest of his story, for he said it was 
impossible to come to the other part of it till 
he had done with the locusts. The caprice of 
the king was thus overmatched by the ingen¬ 
ious device of the wise man. 


124 







THE FIRST SNOW-FALL. 

HE snow had begun in the gloaming, 
And busily all the night 
Had been heaping field and highway 
With a silence deep and white. 

Every pine and fir and hemlock 
Wore ermine too dear for an earl, 
And the poorest twig on the elm-tree 
Was ridged inch-deep with pearl. 

From sheds new-roofed with Carrara 
Came chanticleer’s muffled crow ; 

The stiff rails were softened to swan’s-down, 
And still fluttered down the snow. 

I stood and watched by the window 
The noiseless work of the sky, 

I2 5 
























Golden Book of Tales. 

And the sudden flurries of snow-birds, 
Like brown leaves whirling by. 

I thought of a mound in sweet Auburn 
Where a little headstone stood, — 

How the flakes were folding it gently, 

As did robins the babes in the wood. 

Up spoke our own little Mabel, 

Saying, “Father, who makes it snow?” 

And I told of the good All-Father 
Who cares for us here below. 

Again I looked at the snow-fall, 

And thought of the leaden sky 

That arched o’er our first great sorrow, 
When that mound was heaped so high. 

I remembered the gradual patience 
That fell from that cloud, like snow, 

Flake by flake, healing and hiding 
The scar of our deep-plunged woe. 

126 





The First Snow-fall. 

And again to the child I whispered, 
“ The snow that husheth all, 
Darling, the merciful Father 
Alone can make it fall! ” 



Then, with eyes that saw not, I kissed her; 

And she, kissing back, could not know 
That my kiss was given to her sister, 
Folded close under deepening snow. 

127 






THE TURK AND THE FIDDLER. 



HERE was once a rich farmer who had 
a faidiful and diligent servant named 
Fritz. He was always the first up in 
the morning and the last in bed at 
night, and whenever there was any 
hard work that others were averse to, 
he was always willing to do it. He 
was a good-natured fellow, who never 
complained, but was content with every 
thing, and was always cheerful. 

At the end of the first year his master gave 
him no wages, thinking to himself that thus he 
would not only save something, but would also 
retain the man in his service. To this Fritz 
never said a word, but stayed another year with 
him, working as hard as he had the first; and 
when at the close of this second twelvemonth 

128 


























The Turk and the Fiddler. 


he still received no wages, he submitted to that 
too, and continued to serve on. 

At the end of the third year his master 
bethought himself, and put his hand into his 
pocket as if to give him something, but took 
out nothing. Then Fritz said, “ Master, I have 
worked hard for you these three years; pray 
give me now what is right for my trouble : I 
want to go out into the wide world, and look 
about me.” The miser answered, “ Yes, my 
good man, you have served me honestly and 
faithfully, and for this I will now reward you 
generously.” 

He then put his hand into his pocket, and 
took out three farthings, which he gave him, 
saying, “ Here is a farthing for each year; this 
is a great and generous reward, such as you 
would not have got from any other master.” 
The simple-hearted fellow, who knew very little 
about money, put the sum into his pocket, think¬ 
ing to himself, “ Now that my pocket is full of 
money, why should I plague myself with hard 
work any longer ? ” 

So he set out, and roamed over hill and dale, 

129 





Golden Book of Tales. 

singing and dancing with joy. One day, when 
passing by a bush, a dwarf popped out of it, 
and accosted him, saying, “Whither away, my 
merry fellow ? I see your load of cares is not 
heavy to bear.” 

“Why should I be melancholy?” answered 
Fritz ; “I have plenty of money; I have my 
three years’ earnings safe in my pocket.” 

“ How much may your treasure be ? ” said 
the dwarf. “How much? Three whole far¬ 
things,” replied Fritz. “ I wish you would give 
them to me,” said the other: “ I am very poor 
and needy, and can earn nothing ; but you are 
young, and can easily work for your bread.” 

Then Fritz, who was very kind-hearted, took 
pity on the dwarf, and gave him his three 
farthings, saying, “ Take them; I shall not be 
the worse off for want of them.” The dwarf 
then said, “As you have such a kind heart, I 
will grant you three wishes, one for each far¬ 
thing, so choose whatever you like.” 

“ My first wish,” said Fritz, “ is to have a 
fowling-piece that will bring down every thing 
I shoot at; secondly, a fiddle that will set every 

130 





The Turk and the Fiddler . 


one dancing that hears me play on it ; and 
thirdly, I should like to be able to make every 
one grant me whatever I ask.” 

“ All your wishes shall be fulfilled,” said the 
dwarf. He thrust his hand into the bush, and 
only think! there lay the fiddle and the fowl¬ 
ing-piece ready, as if they had been put there 
on purpose. So he gave them to Fritz, add¬ 
ing, “And whatever you ask for, nobody in 
the world shall ever refuse you.” 

“What else can my heart wish for?” said 
Fritz to himself; “I now have every thing that 
I can desire : ” and so he journeyed merrily on 
his way. He had not gone far before he met 
an old Turk, bearded like a goat, who was 
standing near a tree, listening to the sprightly 
song of a bird perched on its topmost branch. 

“ Oh what a wonderful bird! ” exclaimed the 
Turk; “how can such a little creature have such 
a powerful voice ? Oh, if he were mine! If 
one could but put salt on his tail and catch 
him! ” 

“ If that’s all,” said Fritz, “ I will soon bring 
him down.” 

I 3 I 





Golden Book of Tales. 


So he took up his fowling-piece, and fired, 
when down came the bird into the thorn-bushes 
that grew at the foot of the tree. “ I will pick 
it up, and keep it for myself, as you have hit it,” 
said the Turk; and, laying himself down upon 
the ground, he began to work his way into the 
bush. But as soon as he had got into the 
middle of it, a fit of wanton playfulness seizing 
Fritz, he took up his fiddle, and gave him a 
tune ; and the Turk began to dance and spring 
about; and the more the fiddler scraped, the 
more lively grew the dance. 

The thorns soon began to tear the Turk’s 
shabby clothes, comb his goat’s-beard, and scratch 
and wound him all over. “ Oh, dear! ” cried he 
“ mercy, mercy, master! pray stop your fiddling! 
I do not want to dance.” But Fritz paid no 
heed, and only struck up another tune, thereby 
making the Turk cut and caper higher than 
ever, so that pieces, torn out of his clothes, 
hung about the thorns. 

“ Oh, mercy! ” cried the Turk, “ do stop your 
fiddling, master! I will give you whatever you 
ask, a bag-full of gold, if you only will ! ” 

' I 3 2 








Golden Book of Tales . 

“ Ah! if you are as generous as that,” said 
the man, “ I will put up my fiddle; but I 
must say you are a capital dancer.” He then 
took the offered purse, put up his fiddle, and 
traveled onward. 

The Turk stood still, looking after his tor¬ 
mentor for some time, and when he was al¬ 
most out of sight, began to cry as loud as he 
could, “You miserable fiddler! you ale-house 
scraper! take care, if I get hold of you, I will 
make you take to your heels; you beggarly 
knave! you ragamuffin! ” And he went on 
loading him with all manner of abuse. 

After having thus given vent to his feelings, 
he went to the judge, saying, “ See, your 
honor, how I have been robbed and ill-used 
by a rascal on the highway! the very stones 
might pity me. Do but look at the deplorable 
state 1 am in. My clothes are torn, my body 
is wounded and scratched; the little money I 
had is gone, purse and all! nothing but ducats, 
one piece finer than the other. For Heaven’s 
sake, do have the fellow caught and impris¬ 
oned ! ” 

133 





The Turk and the Fiddler. 


The judge then asked him whether it was a 
soldier who had put him in that plight with 
his sword. “ By no means,” said the Turk; 
“ he had no sword, but he had a fowling-piece 
hanging on his back, and a fiddle round his 
neck. The fellow may easily be recognized.” 

So the judge sent out his bailiffs in quest of 
the man. They met the honest fellow walking 
slowly and carelessly on, and, on searching him, 
found the money-bag in question. 

When he was taken before the judge, he 
said, “ I have not touched the Turk, nor have 
I taken away his money: he offered it me of 
his own free will, if I would but leave off play¬ 
ing the fiddle, as he could not bear my music.” 

“ Not a word of truth in it! ” cried the Turk ; 
“ those are bare-faced lies.” And the judge, 
not believing it either, said, “ That is a very 
poor excuse ; ” and sentenced the poor man to 
the gallows, for highway robbery. 

As he was being taken away, the Turk cried 
after him, “ You lubber! you shall now get 
your well-deserved punishment! ” The poor 
man ascended the ladder very composedly, ac- 
134 





Golden Book of Tales. 


companied by the executioner; but when he 
had got up to the top of it, he turned round, 
and addressed the judge, saying, “ May it please 
your honor to grant me but one last request 
before I die ? ” 

“ Any thing but your life,” replied the other. 

“ I do not ask my life,” said Fritz : “only let me 
play one tune upon my fiddle for the last time.” 

The Turk cried out, “ Oh, no, no! for pity’s 
sake, don’t let him! don’t let him! ” But the 
judge said, “ Why should I not grant him this 
last request? He shall do so.” The fact was, 
he could not say no, because the dwarf’s third 
gift enabled Fritz to make every one grant 
whatever he asked. Then the Turk said, “ Bind 
me fast, bind me fast, for pity’s sake! ” But 
the condemned man seized his fiddle, and 
struck up a merry tune; and at the first note 
judge, clerks, and jailer were set a-going; at 
the second note all began capering, and the 
hangman let his prisoner go, and prepared to 
dance; at the third note all were dancing and 
springing together, and the judge and the Turk 
took the lead and sprang the highest. 


J 35 






The Turk and the Fiddler. 


In a little while all the market-people who 
were looking on, old and young, stout and 
lean, were dancing together; even the very 


dogs that had come along with them were up 
on their hind-legs, and were leaping along with 
the rest. And the longer the fiddler played, 
136 

















The Turk and the Fiddler . 


the higher the dancers capered, so that they 
knocked their heads together, and began to cry 
out piteously. 

At last the judge exclaimed, quite out of 
breath, “ I grant you your life; do but give 
over playing.” Then Fritz suffered himself to 
be persuaded, stopped playing, and, hanging 
his fiddle round his neck, came down the lad¬ 
der. Then, stepping up to the Turk, who was 
lying breathless on the ground, he said, “You 
scoundrel! now confess where you got that 
money from, or I will take my fiddle down 
and make you dance to another tune.” “ I 
stole it, I stole it,” cried he; “ but it is you 
who have won it fairly.” The judge then had 
the Turk taken to the gallows, and hung as a 
thief. 

137 







GEORGE NIDIVER. 

EN have done brave deeds, 

And bards have sung them well: 
I of good George Nidiver 
Now the tale will tell. 

In Californian mountains 
A hunter bold was he. 

Keen his eye and sure his aim 
As any you should see. 


A little Indian boy 

Followed him everywhere, 
Eager to share the hunter s joy, 
The hunter’s meal to share. 


And when the bird or deer 
Fell by the hunter’s skill, 

138 
















George Nidiver . 


The boy was always near 

To help with right good-will. 

One day as through the cleft 
Between two mountains steep, 

Shut in both right and left, 

Their weary way they keep, 

They see two grizzly bears, 

With hunger fierce and fell, 

Rush at them unawares 

Right down the narrow dell. 

The boy turned round with screams, 
And ran with terror wild ; 

One of the pair of savage beasts 
Pursued the shrieking child. 

The hunter raised his gun ; 

He knew one charge was all: 

And through the boy’s pursuing foe 
He sent his only ball. 

The other on George Nidiver 
Came on with dreadful pace: 


139 










Golden Book of Tales. 

The hunter stood unarmed, 
And met him face to face. 


I say unarmed he stood : 

Against those frightful paws 
The rifle-butt, or club of wood, 
Could stand no more than straws. 

140 













George Nidiver. 

George Nidiver stood still, 

And looked him in the face ; 

The wild beast stopped amazed, 

Then came with slackening pace. 

Still firm the hunter stood, 

Although his heart beat high ; 

Again the creature stopped, 

And gazed with wondering eye. 

The hunter met his gaze, 

Nor yet an inch gave way: 

The bear turned slowly round, 

And slowly moved away. 

What thoughts were in his mind, 

It would be hard to spell; 

What thoughts were in George Nidiver, 
I rather guess than tell. 

But sure that rifle’s aim, 

Swift choice of generous part, 

Showed in its passing gleam 
The depths of a brave heart. 

141 







ALADDIN, OR THE WONDERFUL LAMP. 

Ls 

the ca phal °f China there once lived 
11 IPS a ta ^ or nam ^d Mustapha. This Mus- 
iiy®! tapha was very poor, and, work as 
hard as he might, could hardly main¬ 
tain himself, his wife, and their only 
son, whose name was Aladdin. The 
boy, though sprightly and intelligent, was a 
careless and idle fellow, and as he grew up his 
laziness increased. He was continually loitering 
in the streets, nor could Mustapha by any means 
prevail on him to make himself useful. This 
idle disposition of the boy troubled Mustapha 
so much that his grief brought on a fit of 
sickness which cost him his life. 

Aladdin, being no longer restrained by his 
father, indulged his indolence to the utmost, 
and was not ashamed, though fifteen years old, 

142 










Aladdin , or the Wonderful Lamp. 

to be supported by his mother’s labor. One 
day as he was amusing himself with his com¬ 
panions, a stranger, passing by, stopped to 
observe him. This stranger was an African 
magician. After looking at the youth for some 
time very earnestly, he inquired among his play¬ 
mates who the lad was, and presently learned 
his little history. The wily African then went 
up to him, and asked him if his father was not 
called Mustapha the tailor? “ He was so called,” 
replied the boy, “ but he has been dead for some 
time.” At this account the magician pretended 
to burst into tears, and, embracing Aladdin, told 
him he was his father’s brother. 

The day following, the magician took Aladdin 
out with him, and gave him money and hand¬ 
some clothes. Then he conducted him to the 
gardens belonging to the sumptuous palaces of 
the nobility, which were situated in the suburbs 
of the city. Aladdin, having never seen any 
thing so elegant, was highly delighted: so his 
false uncle led him by degrees into the country. 

At length they came to a valley which sepa¬ 
rated two mountains of considerable height. 
143 





Golden Book of Tales . 

The wizard told Aladdin he would show him 
some very wonderful things. He directed him 
to gather a parcel of dry sticks and kindle a 
fire ; which being done, the African cast a per¬ 
fume into it, and pronounced certain magical 
words ; immediately a great smoke arose, after 
which the earth trembled a little, and, opening, 
revealed a stone about half a yard square. 

“ There is hidden,” said the magician, “ under 
that stone an immense treasure, which you may 
possess if you carefully observe my instructions.” 
Then putting a ring on Aladdin’s finger, the 
African bade him pronounce the name of his 
father and grandfather, and raise up the stone. 
Aladdin did as he was directed; and, in spite 
of its immense size, he removed the stone with 
great ease, and discovered a hole several feet 
deep, and steps to descend lower. 

“ Observe,” said the wizard, “what I am going 
to say to you. Not only the possession of the 
treasure, but your life itself, will depend on your 
careful attention. Though I have opened this 
cave, I am forbidden to enter it : that honor is 
permitted only to you. Go down boldly, then. 

144 


















































Golden Book of Tales. 

You will find at the bottom of these steps three 
great halls, in each of which you will see a large 
number of coffers full of gold and silver. Be 
sure you do not meddle with them; nor must 
you suffer even your garments to touch the 
walls. If you do, you will instantly perish. 
When you have passed through these halls, 
you will come to a garden. Here you will be 
perfectly safe, and may handle any thing you 
see. At the farther end of it you will find a 
lamp, burning in a niche. Take that lamp 
down, throw away the wick, pour out the oil, 
and put the lamp in your bosom to bring to 
me.” 

Aladdin obeyed exactly. He went through 
the halls with as much caution as the fear of 
death could inspire. He crossed the garden, 
secured the lamp, put it in his bosom, and 
began calmly to look about him. He found 
that the trees were loaded with fruits of many 
colors, — transparent, white, red, green, blue, 
purple, and yellow. The transparent were dia¬ 
monds ; the white, pearls; the red, rubies; the 
green, emeralds; the blue, turquoises ; the purple, 

146 





Aladdin , or the Wonderful Lamp. 

amethysts ; and the yellow, sapphires. All these 
fruits were large, and very beautiful. 

Aladdin, though he knew nothing of their 
value, was much pleased with them; and as he 
had been told that he might safely meddle with 
any thing in the garden, he filled his pockets 
with some of each sort, and even crammed as 
many as he could into his bosom. He then 
returned through the halls as cautiously as he 
came ; and having ascended the steps, he called 
out to his uncle to assist him with his hand, 
and pull him out of the cave. 

Nothing could be farther from the intention 
of the magician than to deliver Aladdin from 
the cave. He had found by his books that, 
concealed in an underground abode in China, 
was a lamp which would render its possessor 
more powerful than any prince in the world; 
but as he was not permitted to enter the place 
himself, he resolved to induce some friendless 
boy to fetch him the wonderful talisman, and, 
having gained it, to shut up the cave, and leave 
the lad to his fate. When Aladdin therefore 
called out for his assistance, the wizard called 
147 





Golden Book of Tales. 

as loudly for die lamp. The young man would 
have readily given it to him, if he had not buried 
it in his bosom by the quantity of jewels he had 
put over it; and being ashamed to acknowledge 
this, he entreated the magician to help him out, 
and he would deliver it to him immediately. 

The dispute had lasted a short time, and 
neither of them was disposed to give way, when 
the African, turning his head, saw some people 
from the city entering the valley. Fear of being 
discovered by them, and rage at the obstinacy 
of the lad, overcame every other feeling. He 
pronounced two magical words, which replaced 
the stone and closed the earth. By this means 
he lost all hope of obtaining the lamp, since it 
was for ever out of his power to open the cave 
again, or to teach others how to do it. But he 
gratified his revenge by leaving Aladdin, as he 
supposed, to certain death. He set off straight¬ 
way for his own country, taking care not to 
return to the city. 

Aladdin was exceedingly terrified to find him¬ 
self buried alive. He cried out, and called to 
his uncle, offering to give him the lamp imme- 

148 





Aladdin , or the IVonderful Lamp. 

diately; but it was too late. As the cave was 
dark as night, he thought of returning through 
the halls into the garden, which was light; but 
the door, which had been opened by enchant¬ 
ment, was now shut. 

In his agony he clasped his hands together, 
and rubbed the ring the magician had put upon 
his finger, and had forgotten to take away. 
Immediately there rose out of the earth an 
enormous genie, and in his hand was a torch, 
which lighted up the cave as though the sun 
shone in it. Said the genie to him, “ What 
wouldst thou have? I am ready to obey thee 
as thy slave, while thou wearest the ring; I, 
and the other slaves of the ring.” 

At any other time Aladdin would have been 
frightened to death at such an appearance ; but 
despair gave him courage, and he cried, “ I 
charge you, by the ring, to release me if you 
can from this place.” He had no sooner 
spoken, than the earth opened, and the genie 
lifting him up to the surface immediately dis¬ 
appeared. 

Aladdin rejoiced greatly at his deliverance, 
149 




Golden Book of Tales . 

and found his way home without much diffi¬ 
culty ; but he was so agitated by his adventure, 
and so faint for want of sustenance, that it was 
some time before he could tell his story. His 
mother congratulated him on his escape, and 
railed against the treacherous impostor who led 
him into captivity. 

The next morning when Aladdin awoke he 
was very hungry, and called to his mother for 
some breakfast. “Alas! child,” she said, “I 
have been so distressed on your account, that 
I have not been able to do any work these two 
days, so that I have no money to buy any 
food; and all I had in the house you ate yes¬ 
terday. But,” continued she, “ here is the lamp 
you brought home, and which nearly cost you 
your life ; it seems to be a very good one. I 
will clean it; and I dare say it will sell for 
money enough to keep us until I have spun 
some more cotton.” Saying this, she took some 
sand, and began to rub the lamp. In an 

instant a genie of gigantic size stood before 
her, and said, “What wouldst thou have? I 
am ready to obey thee as thy slave ; the slave 
iSo 





Aladdin , or the IVonderful Lamp. 

of all those who hold the lamp in their hands; 
I, and the other slaves of the lamp.” 

Aladdin’s mother fainted at the sight of the 
genie ; but her son, who had once before seen 
him, caught the lamp out of her hand, and 
said, “ I am hungry: bring me something to 
eat at once.” The genie vanished ; but quickly 
returned with a large silver basin containing 
twelve covered plates of the same metal, all 
full of the choicest dainties, together with six 
white loaves, and two bottles of sherbet. Hav¬ 
ing placed these things on the table, he disap¬ 
peared. 

When Aladdin’s mother recovered, she was 
very much pleased to see such a plenty of nice 
provisions. She sat down with her son, and 
they feasted abundantly. When they had done, 
the old lady inquired what had passed between 
the genie and her son, while she was uncon¬ 
scious. 

On being informed that her rubbing the lamp 
had caused the genie to appear, she protested 
against ever touching it again, and earnestly 
advised her son to sell it. He reasoned with 
15 1 





Golden Book of Tales . 

her on the great pains his false uncle had 
taken to procure the talisman, and on the use 
it had now been to them, and would no doubt 
continue to be, as they might live comfortably 
without labor; and added, that, as he was now 
used to the appearance of genii, he would rub 
the lamp, when he wanted any thing, at a time 
when she was not present. His mother answered 
that he might act as he pleased, but for her 
part she would have nothing to do with genii. 

The next day, the provisions being all gone, 
Aladdin took one of the plates, and went to a 
silversmith to sell it. The merchant soon per¬ 
ceived that it was of the purest silver, but 
thinking the owner ignorant of its value, he 
offered a small sum of money for it. Aladdin 
thought he had made a good bargain. He 
gave the money to his mother, and they lived 
upon it in their usual frugal manner, as long 
as it lasted. Aladdin then sold another plate, 
and so on till they had only the basin left; 
and, that being very large, the silversmith gave 
him double the former amount, which supported 
them a considerable time. 

152 





Aladdin , or the Wonderful Lamp. 

When all the money was spent, Aladdin 
again called the lamp to his aid; and the genie 
supplied the table with another silver basin and 
the same number of covered plates equally well 
filled. 

Aladdin and his mother very prudently con¬ 
tinued to live as usual for several years, when 
one day, as Aladdin was walking in the town, 
he heard a crier ordering all the people to shut 
their shops, and keep within doors, while the 
princess Bulbul, the sultan’s daughter, went to 
the baths. Aladdin, seized with a great desire 
to see the princess, secreted himself behind the 
outer door of the bath, where he remained un¬ 
observed. 

As the princess approached the door, she laid 
aside her veil, and gave him an opportunity to 
have a full view of her face. The instant 
Aladdin saw the princess, who was exceedingly 
beautiful, he fell desperately in love with her; 
and when she had entered the inner doors, he 
returned home, pensive yet delighted. 

Next morning Aladdin behaved with great 
reserve and sadness, and, after musing some 
*53 





Golden Book of Tales. 

time, told his mother the cause of his uneasi¬ 
ness, saying, “ I love the charming princess so 
much that I can not live without her, and am 
resolved to ask her in marriage of the sultan, 
her father.” 

Aladdin’s mother heard with attention, but 
when he came to what seemed so wild a de¬ 
termination, she burst into loud laughter. “ My 
dear son,” she said, “ you must be crazy. Do 
you consider who you are, that you have the 
boldness to think of your sovereign’s daughter 
for a wife ? Who do you expect will be hardy 
enough to demand the princess of the sultan 
for you, according to the custom of our coun¬ 
try ? ” — “ You , undoubtedly, must do it,” replied 
her son. “ I shall take care,” said she hastily, 
“ how I engage in such an affair. I go to the 
sultan on a message! what madness! Besides, 
no one approaches the sovereign, you know, 
to ask a favor, without a present. What have 
you to offer the sultan worthy his acceptance, 
even for his smallest favors, much less for the 
highest he can bestow?” 

“ I admit,” replied Aladdin, “ that my wish 
154 





Aladdin , or the IVonderful Lamp. 

is very bold ; but I love the princess so ardent¬ 
ly that I shall die if I do not succeed. You 
should remember what the lamp I possess has 
already done for us. As to a proper offering 
to the sultan, I am able to furnish you with 
one which I am sure he will gladly accept.” 

Aladdin then arranged the jewels he had 
brought from the garden, in a vessel of fine 
porcelain, which showed them to great advan¬ 
tage ; and persuaded his mother, who consented 
with great reluctance, to carry them to the sul¬ 
tan. “ Depend upon it, my son,” said she, 
“ your present will be thrown away. The sul¬ 
tan will either laugh at me, or be in so great 
a rage that he will make us both the victims of 
his fury.” 

However, on the following day, Aladdin’s 
mother appeared at the divan, and was ad¬ 
mitted with other suitors, who came to ask favors 
of the sultan. By the example of others she 
had learned to prostrate herself before the 
throne. The sultan bade her rise, and said to 
her, “Good woman, what is your business?” 

Aladdin’s mother replied, “ Before I presume 
*55 







Golden Book of Tales. 

to tell your majesty the almost incredible affair 
which brings me before you, I most humbly 
request the favor of being heard by you in 
private, and also that you will pardon me the 
bold demand I have to make.” The sultan’s 
curiosity was much excited, and, ordering every¬ 
body else to withdraw, he directed her to pro¬ 
ceed. 

She was slow to do so, being very anxious 
to obtain pardon for her presumption before 
she began. The sultan, tired with her prattle, 
and impatient to know what she had to ask, 
gave her assurances of the most ample pardon, 
and again commanded her to relate her busi¬ 
ness. 

Thus encouraged, the old lady told him faith¬ 
fully how her son had seen the princess, and 
the violent love for her which that sight had 
inspired in him, and ended by formally ask¬ 
ing the princess Bulbul in marriage for her son. 
At the same time she bowed down before the 
throne, and laid her present at the foot of it. 

From the manners and appearance of the 
poor woman, nothing could seem more absurd 
j 56 





Aladdin , or the IVonderful Lamp . 


to the sultan than such a proposal. The in¬ 
stant he heard it he burst out laughing, but, 
sobering himself a little, he said to her, “You 
have brought a present to forward your suit: 
pray let me look at it.” Aladdin’s mother has¬ 
tened to lift it up; and the sultan, greatly 
astonished to see so many priceless jewels set 
before him, the smallest of which far surpassed 
in beauty and value any in his own treasury, 
told the old lady to return in three months, 
hinting that the answer then might not be 
unfavorable. 

Aladdin’s mother was overjoyed at a recep¬ 
tion so much beyond her hopes. She hurried 
home to her son, who heard her story with 
great joy. To be sure, three months seemed 
an age ; but, as he had never expected to suc¬ 
ceed without much greater trouble, his delight 
was unbounded. 

When the three months had passed, Aladdin 
sent his mother to the divan as before. The 
sultan remembered her; but, having no inclina¬ 
tion to give the princess to her son, he con¬ 
sulted his vizier, who advised him to demand 
157 



















































































































Aladdin , or the IVonderfnl Lamp. 

of Aladdin a nuptial present so exceedingly 
valuable that it would be out of his power to 
procure it. The sultan was well pleased with 
the advice, which he doubted not would effec¬ 
tually prevent his hearing any more of Aladdin. 
He then beckoned the old woman to him, and 
told her he was ready to give the princess to 
her son, provided Aladdin sent him forty basins 
of massy gold, full of the same kind of stones 
she had brought him before, — each basin to 
be carried by a black slave led by a young and 
handsome white slave, all of them magnificently 
dressed. “Go,” said he,' “ and tell him that on 
these conditions I am ready to receive him as 
my son-in-law.” 

The old lady returned home much dejected ; 
but Aladdin heard her report with great pleas¬ 
ure, and, summoning the genie, ordered him to 
provide the present the sultan had demanded. 

In a few minutes the house of Aladdin was 
filled by the eighty slaves: forty black ones, 
bearing large golden basins filled with all sorts 
of jewels, each basin being covered with a silver 
stuff embroidered with flowers of gold. Aladdin 
159 






Golden Book of Tales. 

requested his mother to return to the sultan, 
and present him with the dowry he had de¬ 
manded ; and, opening the door, he ordered a 
white slave to go out, and a black one with his 
basin to follow. In this order they all set forth, 
and the mother of Aladdin closed the procession. 

When they entered the divan, they formed 
a semicircle before the throne; the black slaves 
laid the basins on the carpets, and uncovered 
them; and the whole company, having paid 
proper compliments to the sovereign, modestly 
stood with folded arms. 

The sultan surveyed the whole with the utmost 
amazement. The vizier admitted that Aladdin’s 
present merited his reception into the royal 
family. All the court agreed with this opinion ; 
and the sultan dismissed the old lady with orders 
that her son should hasten to receive the prin¬ 
cess from the hands of her father. 

The joy with which Aladdin received this 
message was unspeakable. He summoned the 
genie, and said, “Provide me with proper 
apparel and equipage, that I may visit the 
sultan, who has consented to receive me as a 

160 





Aladdin , or the Wonderful Lamp. 

son.” No sooner had he spoken these words 
than the genie clothed him in most magnificent 
garments. 

When Aladdin arrived at court, and was intro¬ 
duced to the sultan, he would have prostrated 
himself in the usual manner, but the monarch 
prevented this by receiving him in his arms and 
embracing him. They conversed together a long 
time, and the sultan was charmed with the wit 
and good sense of his intended son-in-law. The 
judge presented the contract, and the sultan 
asked Aladdin to stay in the palace and con¬ 
clude the marriage immediately. 

But Aladdin with great gratitude declined the 
sultan’s request. “ I wish first,” said he, “ to 
build a palace fit for the reception of the 
charming princess; and for this purpose I 
humbly beg your majesty to grant me a piece 
of ground near your own.” The sultan bade 
him take any ground he pleased, but begged 
him to consider how long it must be before he 
could complete a new palace ; and all that time 
he should be without the pleasure of calling him 
son. 

161 





Golden Book of Tales. 


When Aladdin returned home, he summoned 
the genie in the usual manner. “ Genie,” said 
he, “ the speed with which thou hast executed 
my orders deserves all praise. I have now a 
commission of still greater importance for thee. 
Build me a palace opposite the sultan’s, fit to 
receive the princess Bulbul. Let the materials 
be the most rare and costly. Let there be a 
large hall in it with a dome at the top, and 
four-and-twenty windows. Decorate these win¬ 
dows with the most splendid jewels. Let the 
walls of the hall be formed of massy gold and 
silver. Provide the most sumptuous furniture, 
and a proper number of handsome slaves to 
perform the necessary duties. Do all this, I 
charge thee by the lamp, in the most perfect 
manner, and with all possible dispatch.” 

By the time Aladdin had finished his instruc¬ 
tions to the genie, the sun was set. The next 
morning at daybreak the genie presented him¬ 
self, and said, “ Master, your palace is finished : 
come and see how you like it.” Aladdin con¬ 
senting, he transported him thither, and led him 
through the various apartments. He found that 











Aladdin , or the IVonderful Lamp. 

his orders had been faithfully fulfilled. The 
treasury was filled to the ceiling with bags of 
money, the palace with the most costly furniture, 
and the stables with the finest horses in the 
world. When Aladdin had reviewed the whole, 
he gave it the praise deserved. He then ordered 
the genie to spread a piece of fine velvet from 
the sultan’s palace to his own, for the princess 
to walk on. 

Aladdin now sent a message to the sultan, 
requesting that he might be permitted to wait 
on him and on the princess Bulbul, and that 
the wedding might take place that day. The 
sultan consenting, Aladdin bade adieu for ever 
to his parental dwelling. He first requested his 
mother to go to the palace with her slaves to 
attend the princess; he then secured his won¬ 
derful lamp, and, mounting his horse, attended 
by a numerous and splendid retinue, he arrived 
at the palace. 

The marriage was performed, and in the even¬ 
ing Aladdin received the lovely bride in his own 
palace, and conducted her into the grand hall, 
which was superbly illuminated. The princess 
163 





Golden Book of Tales. 


being seated, a noble feast was served up. 
The plates and dishes were all of burnished 
gold, and contained the most delicious meats ; 
and all the furniture in the hall was magnificent. 
Although the princess Bulbul had been used to 
the splendor of a court from her infancy, she 
was much struck with the magnificence of her 
new home, and expressed her pleasure to Alad¬ 
din in the strongest terms. 

After supper there was a concert of music and 
a dance by genii and fairies. The day following, 
the royal parents came to Aladdin’s palace to con¬ 
gratulate the princess ; she received them, and 
conducted them to the hall, where they were 
astonished at the display of riches and elegance. 

No situation in human life is free from mis¬ 
fortune. Several years after these events, the 
African magician, who without intending it had 
been the means of Aladdin’s good fortune, 
chanced to recollect him, and resolved to know 
if he had perished in the cave. He drew a 
horoscope, by which he found that Aladdin had 
escaped, lived splendidly, was rich, and had 
married a princess. 


164 







Aladdin , or the IVonderful Lamp. 

On this discovery, the natural malignity of 
the wizard increased tenfold. He burst out in 
a rage, saying, “ Has this fellow discovered the 
virtue of the lamp ? does he whom I despised 
and devoted to death enjoy the fruit of my 
labor and study ? He shall not long do so.” 
He immediately prepared for a journey, and, 
setting off next day, traveled till he arrived 
again at the capital of China. 

He put up at one of the principal khans, 
and mingled with people of the better sort, 
among whom he soon heard much talk of Alad¬ 
din’s palace ; for, though it had been built some 
years, it was still an object of wonder to the 
citizens. One of the company, seeing that the 
magician was a stranger, and that he listened 
to them with great attention, courteously of¬ 
fered to show him those parts of it to which 
the public were admitted. The magician ac¬ 
cepted his civility ; and was instantly convinced 
that it was built by the genii, slaves to the 
lamp, as it was surely beyond the power of man 
to produce so glorious an edifice. 

The wizard heard that Aladdin had gone on 

165 





Golden Book of Tales. 

a hunting-party, which would last several days. 
As soon as he got back to the khan, he sought 
the aid of his art to learn whether Aladdin 
carried his lamp about him. He had the unex¬ 
pected pleasure of learning that the lamp was 
left unwatched in the palace. So, putting a 
dozen handsome copper lamps in a basket, he 
went to the palace of Aladdin, crying out, 
“ Who will change old lamps for new ? ” 

Several people accepted his offer, and this 
drew a crowd of boys and idle people about 
him. The noise they made attracting the notice 
of the princess Bulbul, she sent a female slave 
to inquire the cause. When the slave returned, 
another of the princess’s women said, “ Let us 
see if this man is as silly as he seems to be. 
I remember seeing an old copper lamp on a 
shelf; the owner no doubt will be glad to find 
a new one in its place.” The princess con¬ 
sented ; the exchange was soon made, and the 
African, having obtained the prize he sought, 
returned with it, rejoicing, to his khan. 

In the evening he went into the fields, and 
rubbed the lamp, when the genie appeared, and 
166 





Aladdin , or the IVonderful Lamp. 


said, “What wouldst thou have? I am ready 
to obey thee as thy slave ; the slave of all who 



have the lamp in their hands ; I, and the other 
slaves of the lamp.” “ I command thee,” re- 

167 



















Golden Book of Tales. 

plied the magician, “ to transport me and yon¬ 
der palace which thou hast built, with all who 
are in it, to Africa.” The genie and his asso¬ 
ciates immediately obeyed him. 

The sultan was so delighted with Aladdin’s 
palace, that he used to look out of his chamber- 
window every morning to admire it. The morn¬ 
ing after this removal he was astonished to see 
only an empty space where the palace had 
stood the evening before. On consulting his 
grand vizier, the latter said, “ I am exceeding¬ 
ly sorry, sire, that this event too surely proves 
the truth of my opinion. Your majesty knows 
I have always thought this palace, and all its 
immense riches, were the work of magic only ; 
and I now fear that those powers who were 
capable, in one night, of producing so much 
treasure and magnificence, have with equal ease 
taken them away again.” 

These remarks of the vizier kindled the sul¬ 
tan’s rage against Aladdin. “Where is that 
impostor, that vile wretch ? ” exclaimed the sul¬ 
tan. “ Bring him before me, and let his head 
pay the price of his wicked delusions.” 

168 





Aladdin , or the Wonderful Lamp. 

The vizier dispatched an officer, properly 
instructed, with a small party of horse, in search 
of Aladdin. When they came up with him, the 
officer said to him, “It is with great regret, 
sir, that I declare to you the commands of the 
sultan, which are, that I am to arrest you, 
and carry you before him as a criminal.” Ac¬ 
cordingly a chain was put about his neck, and 
fastened round his body, so that his arms were 
pinioned. One of the troopers took hold of 
the end of the chain, and Aladdin was obliged 
to follow him on 'foot through the city to the 
sultan’s palace. 

When Aladdin was brought into the presence 
of the sultan, he threw himself at his feet, and 
begged to know his crime. “ Thy crime, per¬ 
fidious wretch! ” replied the sultan, “ dost thou 
not know it ? Follow me ; ” and leading him 
to the window said, “ There thy palace stood; 
look, and tell me what has become of it.” 

Aladdin, seeing that the palace had vanished, 
was overwhelmed with grief and despair. The 
sultan, instead of being softened by his distress, 
became more and more incensed. “ Caitiff,” 

169 





Golden Book of Tales . 

said he, “restore to me my daughter, whom I 
value a thousand times more than thy palace, 
or nothing shall restrain me from putting thee 
to death.” 

“ I beseech your majesty,” replied Aladdin, 
“ to give me forty days to search for my dear 
princess; if at the end of that time I fail to 
find her, I solemnly swear that I will return, 
and deliver myself into your hands.” “ Begone, 
then,” answered the sultan ; “ but know that if 
you break your oath, you shall not escape me. 
My rage shall pursue you, whatever part of the 
world you may vainly attempt to hide yourself 
in.” 

Covered with confusion, Aladdin left the 
sultan. He passed on to the city, about which 
he rambled for three days, asking every one 
he met if he could tell him any news of his 
palace. Tired at last of wandering about the 
streets, he strolled into the country; and, com¬ 
ing to the side of a river, the ground he stood 
on gave way, and he would have fallen into 
the water if he had not caught hold of a rock 
which supported him. In recovering himself 
170 





Aladdin , or the IVonderful Lamp. 

he pressed the ring’ he had formerly received 
from the African magician, very hard. The 
genie immediately appeared, and made him the 
usual offer of his services. 

Aladdin, recovering at once from his despair, 
cried out, “ O genie, preserve my life a second 
time, by bringing back my palace to the place 
where it stood.” 

“ That I can not do,” replied the genie : 
“ you must address yourself to the slave of the 
lamp. “ At least,” said Aladdin, “ convey me 
to the place where it stands, and set me down 
under the princess’s window.” These words 
were no sooner uttered, than the genie trans¬ 
ported him to Africa, and set him down as he 
had desired. 

It was night when Aladdin found himself 
under the window of the princess. As he 
knew not who might be within, he determined 
not to enter it till morning. He sat down at 
the foot of a large tree, and overcome by 
fatigue and grief he fell asleep; but, waking 
very early in the morning, he had the happi¬ 
ness of beholding the princess at her window. 

171 







Golden Book of Tales. 

She soon saw him, but dared not converse with 
him from her window; so she made signs to 
him, that he should repair to a secret portal 
where a trusty slave would admit him. 

After the first joy of their meeting, the prin¬ 
cess Bulbul explained to him the cause of 
their misfortunes. She told him that they were 
in Africa, and how the magician had obtained 
the lamp, which he now constantly carried in 
his bosom. She added, that he every day paid 
her one visit, and presumed to ask her hand 
in marriage. Aladdin now besought the prin¬ 
cess to permit him to go to a neighboring 
town. “ This man,” said he, “ in whose power 
we are, is the most subtle and the most wicked 
of mankind. When he comes to you to-day, re¬ 
ceive him with less coolness than usual ; invite 
him to sup with you, and leave the rest to me.” 

Aladdin then went into the town, and bought 
of a druggist half a dram of a certain powder, 
with which he returned to the palace. This he 
gave to the princess, with instructions how to 
use it, and then retired to a closet, lest he 
should be discovered. The wizard paid his 

172 





Aladdin , or the Wonderful Lamp. 

usual visit to the princess, in the course of the 
day, and was glad to find her in much better 
spirits than before. She had now, for the first 
time, dressed herself elegantly, and she con¬ 
versed freely with him. When he was about to 
depart, she feigned a wish to taste the wines 
of Africa, and desired that he would provide 
her the best, and come and sup with her. 

The wily African, with all his cunning, al¬ 
lowed himself to be deceived. In the evening 
he did not fail to attend the princess, who 

received him in the most flattering manner. 

After supper, when the wine was set before 
them, the princess gave an appointed signal 
to her attendant. A gold cup was presented 
to the magician, and another to the princess. 
In her cup was the powder procured by Alad¬ 
din. Wine being poured out, the princess told 
the magician that in China it was the custom 

to exchange cups, and at the same time held 
out her cup to him. He eagerly made the 

exchange ; and, putting the cup he had re¬ 
ceived from her to his lips, he drank a little of 
the wine, and immediately expired. 

173 





Golden Book of Tales. 

When the wizard fell down, Aladdin, who had 
watched the event, entered the hall ; and, run¬ 
ning to the body, found the lamp carefully 
wrapped up in his bosom. Summoning the 
genie, Aladdin commanded him to restore the 
palace to its former situation. This he instant¬ 
ly did : those within it felt only two slight 
shocks, one when it was lifted up, and the 
other, after a short interval, when it was set 
down. 

The morning after the return of the palace, 
the sultan entered his closet, unusually sad ; 
but on going to the window, he had the joyful 
surprise to see it again in its place. He flew 
thither, and embraced his daughter with tears 
of joy. 

The princess Bulbul then related to her 
father every thing that had befallen her. She 
took upon herself the whole blame of changing 
the lamp, and magnified the merit of her hus¬ 
band in so soon discovering and > delivering 
her. The sultan embraced Aladdin, and the 
whole city rejoiced at his safe return with the 
princess. 

174 






ALADDIN. 

HEN I was a beggarly boy, 

And lived in a cellar damp, 

I had not a friend nor a toy, 

But I had Aladdin’s lamp ; 
When I could not sleep for cold, 

I had fire enough in my brain, 
And builded, with roofs of gold, 

My beautiful castles in Spain! 

Since then I have toiled day and night, 

I have money and power good store, 
But I’d give all my lamps of silver bright 
For the one that is mine no more. 
Take, Fortune, whatever you choose : 

You gave, and may snatch again; 

I have nothing ’twould pain me to lose, 
For I own no more castles in Spain ! 

175 










LLEWELLYN AND THE GREYHOUND. 



HE spearmen heard the bugle sound 
When cheerily smiled the morn; 
And many a brach and many a hound 
Obeyed Llewellyn’s horn. 

And still he blew a louder blast, 

And gave a lustier cheer: 

“Come, Gelert, come! wert never last 
Llewellyn’s horn to hear! ” 


Oh, where does faithful Gelert roam, 
The flower of all his race ? 

So true, so brave, — a lamb at home, 
A lion in the chase! 

176 















Llewellyn and the Greyhound. 

’Twas only at Llewellyn’s board 
The faithful Gelert fed : 

He watched, he served, he cheered his lord; 
He sentineled his bed. 

In sooth, he was a peerless hound, 

The gift of royal John; 

But now no Gelert could be found, 

And all the chase rode on. 

And now, as over rocks and dells 
The gallant chidings rise, 

All Snowdon’s craggy chaos yells 
With many mingled cries. 

That day Llewellyn little loved 
•The chase of hart or hare, 

And scant and small the booty proved, 

For Gelert was not there. 

Unpleased Llewellyn homeward hied. 

When near the portal seat, 

His truant Gelert he espied, 

Bounding his lord to greet. 

177 





Golden Book of Tales. 

But when he gained the castle door, 

Aghast the chieftain stood. 

The hound all o’er was smeared with gore ; 
His lips, his fangs, ran blood! 

Llewellyn gazed with fierce surprise, 

Unused such looks to meet; 

His favorite checked his joyful guise, 

And crouched and licked his feet. 

Onward in haste Llewellyn passed 
(And on went Gelert too), 

While still, where’er his eyes he cast, 

Fresh blood-gouts shocked his view! 

O’erturned his infant’s bed he found, 

The blood-stained covering rent; 

And all around, both wall and ground, 

With recent blood besprent. 

He called his child — no voice replied; 

He searched with terror wild ; 

Blood! blood! he found on every side, 

But nowhere found his child. 

178 





Llewellyn and the Greyhound. 

“Monster! by thee my child’s devoured!” 

The frantic father cried ; 

And to the hilt his vengeful sword 
He plunged in Gelert s side. 

His suppliant looks, as prone he fell, 

No pity could impart, 

But still poor Gelert’s dying yell 
Passed heavy o’er his heart. 

Aroused by that last piteous yell, 

A slumberer wakened nigh ; 

What words the father’s joy can tell 
To hear his infant’s cry! 

Concealed beneath a tumbled heap, 

His hurried search had missed, 

All glowing from his rosy sleep, 

His lovely boy he kissed. 

Nor scratch had he, nor harm, nor dread ; 

But the same couch beneath 
Lay a gaunt wolf, all torn and dead, 
Tremendous still in death. 

179 





Golden Book of Tales. 

Ah ! what was then Llewellyn’s pain ! 

For now the truth was clear : 

The gallant hound the wolf had slain, 
To save Llewellyn’s heir. 



Vain! vain was all Llewellyn’s woe. 
“ Best of thy kind, adieu ! 


180 

































Llewellyn and the Greyhound ’ 


The frantic blow that laid thee low 
This heart shall ever rue ! ” 

And now a gallant tomb they raise, 

With costly sculpture decked ; 

And marbles storied with his praise, 

Poor Gelert’s bones protect. 

Here never could the spearman pass, 

Or forester, unmoved ; 

Here oft the tear-besprinkled grass 
Llewellyn’s sorrow proved. 

And here he hung his horn and spear; 
And here, as evening fed, 

In fancy’s ear, he oft would hear 
Poor Gelert’s dying yell! 

And till great Snowdon’s rocks grow old, 
And cease the storm to brave, 

The consecrated spot shall hold 
The name of Gelert’s grave. 

181 







DIAMONDS AND TOADS. 

NCE upon a time there was a widow 
who had two daughters. The eldest 
was so like her, both in body and mind, 
that whoever saw the one saw the other 
also. They were both so very proud 
and disagreeable that nobody could live 
with them. 

The youngest, who was the exact picture of 
her father in good-nature and sweetness of 
manner, was the most beautiful creature ever 
seen. As it is natural to love those who resem¬ 
ble us, the mother doted upon the eldest, and 
no less hated the youngest. She made her 
eat in the kitchen, and work all day with the 
servants. 

Among other things, the poor child was 
obliged to go twice a day to a fountain more 


















Diamonds and Toads. 


than a mile and a half from the house, and 
bring home a great heavy pitcher filled with 
water. 

One day, when she was at the fountain, a 
poor woman came up to her, and asked her to 
let her drink. 

“ That I will, most gladly, good dame,” said 
the sweet girl. Then washing out the pitcher, 
she filled it at the clearest part of the fountain, 
and held it to the old woman’s mouth that she 
might drink the more easily. 

The old woman, having drunk, said to her, 
“ Since you are so pretty and so kind, my 
dear, I will bestow on you a gift.” (For it 
was a fairy in disguise who had asked her to 
drink, just to see how far the little girl’s good¬ 
nature would go.) “ I give you,” said she, 
“ this gift: whenever you speak there shall 
come out of your mouth either a rose or a 
diamond.” 

When the sw^eet girl got home, her mother 
began to scold her for staying so long at the 
fountain. 

“ I ask your pardon, mamma,” said she, “ for 

183 





Golden Book of Tales. 



not being at home sooner; ” and as she spoke 
these words, there fell from her lips two roses, 

two pearls, and two 
large diamonds. 

“ What do I see!” 
cried the mother. 
“ Why, dear me ! when 
she talks she drops 
diamonds and pearls 
from her mouth ! My 
child, how happens 
this?” This was the 
first time she had ever 
called her “ my child.” 
The poor girl told 


184 








Diamonds and Toads. 


her mother all that had befallen her at the 
fountain. And, all the while she was speaking, 
pearls and diamonds were dropping from her 
mouth. 

“ Upon my word,” said her mother, “ this is 
very lucky indeed. I will send my darling at 
once to the fountain. Fanny! Fanny! look! 
do you see what falls from the mouth of your 
sister when she speaks? Should you not like 
to have the same gift bestowed on you ? Well, 
you have only to go to the fountain, and, when 
a poor woman asks you to let her drink, grant 
her wish very politely.” 

“ And very nice it would be to see me go 
and draw water at the fountain ! Not I, indeed ! ” 
replied the proud creature. 

“ But I say you must go, and this very 
minute, too,” answered her mother. 

So the saucy girl set out, taking with her 
the best silver tankard in the house, and grum¬ 
bling all the way as she went. She . had no 
sooner reached the fountain, than a lady, most 
magnificently dressed, came out of a wood, and 
asked her for a drink. 

185 





Golden Book of Tales . 

This was the very fairy who had bestowed 
the rich gift on the youngest sister, and had 
now put on the dress and manners of a prin¬ 
cess, to see how far the saucy airs of the 
haughty creature would go. 

“ Do you think I have come here to draw 
water for you?” said the ill-bred girl. “Oh, 
yes, the best silver tankard in the house was 
brought here on purpose for your ladyship, I 
suppose! However, you may drink out of it, 
if you have a fancy.” 

“You are not very obliging,” replied the 
fairy, mildly; “ but since you have behaved 

with so little civility, I give you for a gift, 
that at every word you speak there shall come 
out of your mouth either a toad or a viper.” 

As soon as her mother saw her coming 
home, she called out, “Well, daughter?” 

“ Well, mother,” answered the saucy girl. 
And as she spoke, two toads and two vipers 
dropped from her mouth upon the ground. 

“Oh, mercy!” cried the mother, “what do I 
see? It is your naughty sister who is the 
cause of all this; but she shall pay dearly for 
186 





Diamonds and Toads . 


it.” Then the mother went to look for her 
youngest, that she might beat her. The poor 
innocent ran away as fast as she could, and 
reached a forest near by. 

The king’s son, who had been hunting, hap¬ 
pened to meet her, and, seeing how beautiful 
she was, asked her what she was doing all 
alone in the forest, and why she cried. 

“ Alas! ” said she, sobbing as if her heart 
would break, “ my mother, sir, has turned me 
out of doors.” 

The king’s son, seeing pearls and diamonds 
fall from her mouth at every word she spoke, 
desired her to tell him the reason of such a 
wonder. So the good girl told him all that had 
befallen her at the fountain. 

The prince was so charmed with her beauty 
and innocence, that he asked her to become 
his wife ; and, as the gift of the fairy was worth 
more than the largest marriage-portion, he led 
her to the palace of the king, his father, and 
married her that day. 

As for her sister, she grew even saucier than 
before, and acted in every way so very badly, 

187 










ABOUT THE FAIRIES. 

HIRAY, where are the little bluebells 
MM gone, 

That lately bloomed in the wood ? 
Why, the little fairies have each taken 
one, 

And put it on for a hood. 



And where are the pretty grass-stalks gone, 
That waved in the summer breeze ? 

189 









Golden Book of Tales . 


Oh, the fairies have taken them every one, 

To plant in their gardens, like trees. 

And where are the great big bluebottles gone, 
That buzzed in their busy pride ? 

Oh, the fairies have caught them every one, 
And have broken them in, to ride. 

And they’ve taken the glow-worms to light 
their halls, 

And the cricket to sing them a song, 

And the great red rose-leaves to paper their 
walls, 

And they’re feasting the whole night long. 

But when spring comes back with its soft, 
mild ray, 

And the ripple of gentle rain, 

The fairies bring back what they’ve taken away, 
And give it us all again. 

190 







CINDERELLA, OR THE LITTLE GLASS SLIPPER. 

HERE was once a 
worthy gentleman 
who took for his 
second wife the 
proudest and most 
disagreeable lady in 
the whole country. 
She had two daugh¬ 
ters by a previous marriage, exactly like herself 
in all things. The gentleman also had one 
little girl, who resembled her dead mother, 
the best woman in all the world. Scarcely 
had the second marriage taken place, when 
the stepmother became jealous of the good 
qualities of the little girl, who was so great 
a contrast to her own two daughters. She 
gave her all the hard work of the house. 

191 






























Golden Book of Tales . 

She made her wash the floors and staircases, 
dust the bedrooms, and clean the grates. 
While her sisters occupied carpeted chambers, 
hung with mirrors in which they could see 
themselves from head to foot, this poor little 
girl was sent to sleep in an attic, on an old 
straw mattress, with only one chair, and not a 
looking-glass in the room. 

She suffered all in silence, not daring to 
complain to her father, who was entirely ruled 
by his new wife. When her daily work was 
done, she used to sit down in the chimney- 
corner among the ashes and cinders ; and so 
the two sisters gave her the nickname of Cin¬ 
derella. But Cinderella, however shabbily clad, 
was handsomer than they were, with all their 
fine clothes. 

It happened that the king’s son gave a num¬ 
ber of balls. All the ladies and gentlemen of 
the city were asked, and among the rest the 
two elder sisters. They were very proud and 
happy, and spent their whole time in choosing 
what they should wear. This was a new 
trouble to Cinderella, who had to get up their 

192 





Cinderella. 


fine linen and laces, and who never could 
please them, however much she endeavored to 
do so. They talked of nothing but their 
clothes. 

“ I,” said the elder, “ shall wear my velvet 
gown and my trimmings of English lace.” 

“ And I,” added the younger, “ will have but 
my ordinary silk petticoat ; but I shall adorn it 
with an upper skirt of flowered brocade, and 
shall put on my diamond tiara, which is a great 
deal finer than any thing of yours.” 

Here the elder sister grew angry, and the 
dispute began to run so high, that Cinderella, 
who was known to have excellent taste, was 
called upon to decide between them. She gave 
them the best advice she could, and gently and 
meekly offered to dress them herself, and espe¬ 
cially to arrange their , hair. The important 
evening came, and she used all her skill to adorn 
the two young ladies. While she was combing 
out the elder’s hair, this ill-natured girl said 
sharply, “ Cinderella, do you not wish you 
were going to the ball ? ” 

“ Ah, my lady ” (they obliged her always to 
193 





Golden Book of Tales. 

say “my lady”), “you are only mocking me. 
It is not my good luck to have any such pleas¬ 
ure.” 

“You are right: people would only laugh to 
see a little cinder-wench at a ball.” 

Any other than Cinderella would have dressed 
the hair all awry; but she was good, and 
dressed it perfectly even and smooth, and as 
prettily as she could. 

The sisters had scarcely eaten for two days, 
and had broken a dozen stay-laces a day, in 
trying to make themselves slender; but to-night 
they broke a dozen more, and lost their tem¬ 
pers over and over again before they had com¬ 
pleted their dressing. When at last the happy 
moment arrived, Cinderella followed them to 
the coach. After it had whirled them away, 
she sat down by the kitchen fire, and cried. 

Immediately her godmother, who was a fairy, 
appeared beside her. “ What are you crying 
for, my little maid ? ” 

“ Oh, I wish — I wish ” — Her sobs stopped 
her. 

“You wish to go to the ball, don’t you?” 

194 





Cinderella. 


Cinderella nodded. 

“ Well, then, be a good girl, and you shall 
go. First run into the garden, and bring me 
the largest pumpkin you can find.” 

Cinderella did not see what this had to do 
with going to the ball, but, being obedient and 
obliging, she went. Her godmother took the 
pumpkin, and, having scooped out all its inside, 
struck it with her wand. It became a splendid 
gilt coach, lined with rose-colored satin ! 

“ Now bring me the mouse-trap out of the 
pantry, my dear.” 

Cinderella brought it. It contained six of 
the fattest, sleekest mice. The fairy lifted up 
the wire door, and as each mouse ran out she 
struck it, and changed it into a beautiful black 
horse. 

“ But what shall I do for your coachman, Cin¬ 
derella ? ” 

Cinderella suggested that she had seen a 
large black rat in the rat-trap, and he might do 
for want of better. 

“You are right. Go and look again for 
him.” 

195 






Golden Book of Tales. 



He was found ; and the fairy made him into 
a most respectable coachman, with the finest 
whiskers imaginable. She afterwards took six 
lizards from behind the pump- 
kin-bed, and changed them into 
six footmen, 
all in splen¬ 
did livery. 


They immediately jur 
up behind the carriag e 
if they had been footmen all their days. “Well, 
Cinderella, now you can go to the ball.” 

“ What, in these clothes ? ” said Cinderella 
sadly, looking down at her ragged dress. 

196 












Cinderella . 


Her godmother laughed, and touched her 
also with the wand. At once her wretched 
threadbare jacket became stiff with gold, and 
sparkling with jewels, her woolen petticoat 
lengthened into a gown of sweeping satin, from 
underneath which peeped out her little feet, no 
longer bare, but covered with silk stockings and 
the prettiest glass slippers in the world. “ Now, 
Cinderella, depart; but remember, if you stay 
one instant after midnight, your carriage will 
become a pumpkin, your coachman a rat, your 
horses mice, and your footmen lizards ; while 
you yourself will be the little cinder-wench you 
were an hour ago.” 

Cinderella promised readily, her heart was so 
full of joy. 

Cinderella arrived at the palace. The king’s 
son, whom some one, probably the fairy god¬ 
mother, had told to await the coming of an 
uninvited princess that nobody knew, was stand¬ 
ing at the entrance, ready to receive her. He 
offered her his hand, and led her with the 
utmost courtesy through the assembled guests, 
•who stood aside to let her pass, whispering to 
197 




Golden Book of Tales . 

one another, “ Oh, how beautiful she is ! ” It 
might have turned the head of any one but 
poor Cinderella, who was so used to be de¬ 
spised that she took it all as if it were some¬ 
thing happening in a dream. 

Her triumph was complete. Even the old 
king said to the queen, that never since her 
majesty’s young days had he seen so charming 
and elegant a person. All the court ladies 
scanned her eagerly, clothes and all, determin¬ 
ing to have theirs made next day of exactly 
the same pattern. The king’s son himself led 
her out to dance, and she danced so gracefully 
that he admired her more and more. Indeed, 
at supper, which was fortunately early, his ad¬ 
miration quite took away his appetite. Cinder¬ 
ella, with an involuntary shyness, sought out 
her sisters. She placed herself beside them, 
and offered them all sorts of civil attentions, 
which, coming as they supposed from a stran¬ 
ger, and so magnificent a lady, almost over¬ 
whelmed them with delight. 

While she was talking with them, she heard 
the clock strike a quarter to twelve ; so, bid- 

198 





Cinderella . 


ding a graceful adieu to the royal family, she 
re-entered her carriage, escorted tenderly by 
the king’s son, and arrived safely at her own 
door. There she found her godmother, who 
smiled approval, and of whom she asked leave 
to go to a second ball, the following night, to 
which the queen had earnestly invited her. 

While she was talking, the two sisters were 
heard knocking at the gate. The fairy god¬ 
mother vanished, leaving Cinderella sitting in 
the chimney-corner, rubbing her eyes, and pre¬ 
tending to be very sleepy. 

“ Ah ! ” cried the eldest sister spitefully, “ it 
has been the most delightful ball; and there 
was present the most beautiful princess I ever 
saw, and she was so exceedingly polite to us 
both.” 

“ Was she ? ” said Cinderella indifferently ; 
“ and who might she be ? ” 

“ Nobody knows, though everybody would 
give their eyes to know, especially the king’s 
son.” 

“Indeed!” replied Cinderella, a little more 
interested; “ I should like to see her. Miss 

199 





Golden Book of Tales. 

Javotte,” — that was the elder sister’s name, — 
“ will you not let me go to-morrow, and lend 
me your yellow gown that you wear on Sun¬ 
days ? ” 

“ What, lend my yellow gown to a cinder- 
wench ! I am not so mad as that.” Cinder¬ 
ella did not complain at this refusal, for if her 
sister had lent her the gown she would have 
been puzzled what to do. 

The next night came; and the two young 
ladies, richly dressed, went to the ball. Cinder¬ 
ella, more splendidly attired and more beautiful 
than ever, followed them shortly after. “ Now, 
remember twelve o’clock,” was her godmother’s 
parting speech ; and she thought she certainly 
should. But the prince’s attentions to her were 
greater even than the first evening ; and, in the 
delight of listening to his pleasant conversa¬ 
tion, time slipped by unnoticed. While she 
was sitting beside him in a lovely alcove, she 
heard a clock strike the first stroke of twelve. 
She started up, and fled away as lightly as a 
deer. 

Amazed, the prince followed, but could not 
200 





Cinderella . 



catch her. Indeed, he missed his lovely prin¬ 


cess altogether, and only saw 
running out of the palace-doors 
a little dirty girl, whom he had 
never beheld before, and of whom 
he certainly would never have 
taken the least notice. Cinder¬ 
ella arrived at home breathless 
and weary, ragged and cold, 
without carriage, or footman, or 


201 





















Golden Book of Tales. 

coachman. All that was left of her past mag¬ 
nificence was one of her little glass slippers. 
The other she had dropped in the ball-room as 
she ran away. 

When the two sisters returned, they were 
full of this strange adventure : how the beau¬ 
tiful lady had appeared at the ball more beauti¬ 
ful than ever, and enchanted every one who 
looked at her ; how, as the clock was striking 
twelve, she had suddenly risen up, and fled 
through the ball-room, disappearing, no one 
knew how or where, and dropping one of her 
glass slippers behind her in her flight; how the 
king’s son had remained inconsolable until he 
chanced to pick up the little glass slipper, 
which he carried away in his pocket, and was 
seen to take out continually, and look at affec¬ 
tionately. In fact, all the court and royal fam¬ 
ily were convinced that he was deeply in love 
with the wearer of the little glass slipper. 

Cinderella listened in silence, turning her 
face to the kitchen fire. Perhaps it was that 
which made her look so rosy ; but nobody ever 
noticed or admired her at home, so it did not 
202 





Cinderella. 


signify, and next morning she went to her 
weary work again just as before. 

A few days after, the whole city was attracted 
by the sight of the prince, preceded by a her¬ 
ald, who went about with a little glass slipper 
in his hand, proclaiming that the king’s son 
ordered this to be fitted on the foot of every 
lady in the kingdom, and that he wished to 
marry the lady whom it fitted best, or to whom 
it and the fellow-slipper belonged. Princesses, 
duchesses, countesses, and gentlewomen, all 
tried it on ; but, being a fairy slipper, it fitted 
nobody. Besides, nobody could produce its 
fellow-slipper, which lay all the time safely in 
the pocket of Cinderella’s old linsey gown. 

At last the herald and the prince came to 
the house of the two sisters. They well knew 
that neither of themselves was the beautiful 
lady. Still they made every attempt to get 
their clumsy feet into the glass slipper ; but in 
vain. 

“ Let me try it on,” said Cinderella, from 
the chimney-corner. 

“ What, you ? ” cried the others, bursting into 

203 





Golden Book of Tales. 

shouts of laughter ; but Cinderella only smiled, 
and held out her hand. But her sisters could 
not prevent her, since the command was that 
every young maiden in the city should try on 
the slipper, in order that no chance might be 
left untried. For the prince was nearly break¬ 
ing his heart ; and his father and mother were 
afraid that, though a prince, he would actually 
die for love of the beautiful unknown lady. 

So the herald bade Cinderella sit down on a 
three-legged stool in the kitchen, and himself 
put the slipper on her pretty little foot, which 
it fitted exactly. She then drew from her 
pocket the fellow-slipper, which she also put on, 
and stood up — for with the touch of the magic 
shoes all her dress was changed likewise — no 
longer the poor cinder-wench, but the beautiful 
lady whom the king’s son loved. 

Her sisters recognized her at once. Filled 
with astonishment and alarm, they threw them¬ 
selves at her feet, begging her pardon for all 
their former unkindness. She raised and em¬ 
braced them, telling them she forgave them 
with all her heart, and only hoped they would 

.204 






Cinderella. 


love her always. Then she departed with the 
herald to the king’s palace, and told her whole 
story to his majesty and the royal family, who 
were not in the least surprised, for everybody 
believed in fairies, and everybody longed to have 
a fairy godmother. 

As for the young prince, he thought her 
more lovely and lovable than ever, and insisted 
upon marrying her immediately. Cinderella 
never went home again ; but she sent for her 
two sisters to the palace, and with the consent 
of all parties married them shortly after to two 
rich gentlemen of the court. 

205 









THE TWO CHURCH-BUILDERS. 

FAMOUS king would build a church, 
A temple vast and grand ; 

And, that the praise might be his own, 
He gave a strict command 
That none should add the smallest gift 
To aid the work he planned. 

And when the mighty dome was done, 
Within the noble frame, 

Upon a tablet broad and fair, 

In letters all aflame 
With burnished gold, the people read 
The royal builder’s name. 

Now, when the king, elate with pride, 

That night had sought his bed, 

206 















The Two Church-builders . 


He dreamed he saw an angel come 
(A halo round his head), 

Erase the royal name, and write 
Another in its stead. 

What could it mean ? Three times that night 
That wondrous vision came ; 

Three times he saw that angel hand 
Erase the royal name, 

And write a woman’s in its stead, 

In letters all aflame. 

Whose could it be ? He gave command 
To all about his throne, 

To seek the owner of the name 
That on the tablet shone ; 

And so it was the courtiers found 
A widow poor and lone. 

The king, enraged at what he heard, 

Cried, “ Bring the culprit here ! ” 

And to the woman, trembling sore, 

He said, “ ’Tis very clear 
That you have broken my command ; 

Now let the truth appear! ” 

207 





Golden Book of Tales. 


“Your majesty,” the widow said, 

“ I can’t deny the truth ; 

I love the Lord, — my Lord and yours, — 
And so in simple sooth, 

I broke your majesty’s command 
(I crave your royal ruth). 

And since I had no money, sire, 


Why, I could only pray 
That God would bless your majesty ; 



208 






The Two Church-builders. 


“ Ah ! now I see,” the king exclaimed, 
“ Self-glory was my aim ; 

The woman gave for love of God, 

And not for worldly fame: 

’Tis my command the tablet bear 
The pious widow’s name.” 

209 











JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK. 

N the days of 
good King Al¬ 
fred there lived 
a poor widow, 
whose cottage 
was in a remote 
country village, 
many miles from 
London. She 
had an only child 
named Jack, whom she indulged so much that 
he never paid the least attention to any thing 
she said, but was careless, lazy, and wasteful. 
His follies were not owing to a bad disposition, 
but to his mother’s foolish fondness. In a short 
time he spent all that she had, and scarcely any 
thing remained but a cow. One day, for the 
first time in her life, she reproached him. 

210 






Jack and the Bean-stalk. 

“Cruel, cruel boy!” said she, “you have at last 
made me a beggar. I have not money enough 
to buy even a bit of bread ; nothing now remains 
to sell but my poor cow ! I am sorry to part 
with her ; it grieves me sadly, but we can not 
starve.” 

For a few minutes Jack felt sorry, but it was 
soon over, and he began begging his mother 
to let him sell the cow at the next village. He 
teased her so much, that she at last consented. 
As he went along, he met a butcher, who asked 
why he was driving the cow from home. Jack 
replied that he was going to sell her. The 
butcher held in his hat some curious beans, 
which were of various colors, and attracted 
Jack’s attention. This was noticed by the man, 
who, knowing Jack’s careless ways, thought he 
would not let slip so good a chance. So he 
asked the price of the cow, and offered to give 
all the beans in his hat for her. The silly boy 
could not conceal his pleasure at what he sup¬ 
posed so great an offer. The bargain was struck 
instantly, and the cow exchanged for a few pal¬ 
try beans. Jack made the best of his way 
211 


ft 





Golden Book of Tales. 

home, calling aloud to his mother before he 
reached the door, thinking to surprise her. 

When she saw the beans, and heard Jack’s 
story, her patience left her. She tossed the 
beans out of the window, and they fell on the 
garden-bed below. Then she threw her apron 
over her head, and cried bitterly. Jack tried to 
console her, but in vain ; and, having nothing 
to eat, they went supperless to bed. Jack awoke 
early in the morning, and, seeing something 
uncommon darkening the window of his bed¬ 
chamber, ran down stairs into the garden. He 
found some of the beans had taken root, and 
sprung up surprisingly. The stalks were of 
an immense thickness, and had twined together 
until they formed a ladder like a chain, and so 
high that the top appeared to be lost in the 
clouds. 

Jack was an adventurous lad: so he deter¬ 
mined to climb to the top, and ran to tell his 
mother, not doubting she would be as pleased 
as he was. She declared that he should not 
go, and said it would break her heart if he did. 
But, though she entreated and threatened, it 
212 





yack and the Bean-stalk. 

was all in vain, and Jack set out. After climb¬ 
ing for some hours he reached the top of the 
bean-stalk, quite exhausted. Looking around, 
he found himself in a strange country. It ap¬ 
peared to be a desert : not a tree, shrub, house, 
or living creature was to be seen. 

Jack seated himself pensively upon a block 
of stone, and thought of his mother. He now 
reflected with sorrow upon his disobedience in 
climbing the bean-stalk against her will, and 
was sure that he must die of hunger. How¬ 
ever, he walked on, hoping to see a house, 
where he might beg something to eat. Soon 
he saw at a distance a beautiful lady, walking 
all alone. She was splendidly dressed, and car¬ 
ried a white wand, on the top of which sat a 
peacock of pure gold. 

Jack, who was a gallant fellow, went straight 
up to her; and she, with a sweet smile, asked 
him how he came there. When he had told 
her all about the bean-stalk, she said, “ Do 
you remember your father, my child ? ” 

“ No, madam; but I am sure there is some 
mystery about him, for when I name him to 

213 





Golden Book of Tales. 

my mother she always begins to weep, and 
will tell me nothing.” 

“ She dare not,” replied the lady; “ but I can 
and will. Only you must promise to obey me 
in every thing, or you will perish yourself. For 
know, my lad, that I am a fairy, and was your 
father’s guardian.” 

Jack was brave, and, besides, his fortunes 
were so bad they could not well be worse : so 
he promised. 

The fairy continued, “ Your father, Jack, was 
a most excellent, generous man. He had a 
good wife, faithful servants, plenty of money; 
but he had one misfortune, — a false friend. 
This was a giant, whom he had helped in 
trouble, and who returned his kindness by killing 
him and seizing his property. He also made 
your mother take a solemn oath that she would 
never tell you any thing about your father, or he 
would kill both her and you. Then he turned 
her off with you in her arms, to wander about 
the wide world as she might. I could not help 
her, as my power only returned on the day 
you went to sell your cow.” 

214 





Jack and the Bean-stalk. 

“ It was I,” added the fairy, “who put it into 
your head to take the beans, who made the 
bean-stalk grow, and filled you with the desire 
to climb up it to this strange country ; for it is 
here the wicked giant lives who killed your 
father. You must avenge him, and rid the 
world of a monster who never will do any thing 
but evil. I will help you. You may lawfully 
take his house and all his riches, for every 
thing he has belonged to your father, and is 
therefore yours. Now, farewell ! Do not tell 
your mother that you know your father’s his¬ 
tory : this is my command, and if you disobey 
me you will suffer for it. Now go.” 

Jack asked where he was to go. “ Along the 
direct road, till you see the house where the 
giant lives. You must then act according to 
your best judgment, and I will guide you if 
any difficulty arises. Farewell! ” And then, 
with a kindly smile, she vanished. 

Jack pursued his way. He walked on till 
after sunset, when, to his great joy, he saw a 
large mansion. At the door was a plain-look¬ 
ing woman. He spoke to her, begging she 
215 






Golden Book of Tales. 

would give him a bit of bread and a night’s 
lodging. She expressed the greatest surprise, 
and said it was quite uncommon to see a hu¬ 
man being near their house; for it was well 
known that her husband was a powerful giant, 
who would never eat any thing but human 
flesh, if he could possibly get it, and he would 
walk fifty miles to procure it, usually being out 
the whole day for that purpose. 

This account greatly frightened Jack ; but 
still he hoped to escape the giant, and so he 
again begged the woman to take him in for 
one night only, and hide him where she thought 
proper. She at last suffered herself to be per¬ 
suaded, for she was of a kind and generous 
disposition, and took him into the house. First 
they entered a fine large hall, magnificently fur¬ 
nished. They then passed through several 
great rooms, in the same style of grandeur ; 
but all appeared forsaken and lonely. A long 
gallery came next. This was very dark,—just 
light enough to show that, instead of a wall 
on one side, there was a grating of iron which 
parted off a dismal dungeon, whence issued the 

216 





yack and the Bean-stalk . 

groans of the victims whom the cruel giant 
kept for his feasts. 

Poor Jack was half dead with fear, and would 
have given the world to be with his mother 
again ; for he now began to doubt if he should 
ever see her more. He even distrusted the 
good woman, and thought she had let him into 
the house only to lock him up among the un¬ 
fortunate people in the dungeon. However, 
she bade Jack sit down, and gave him plenty 
to eat and drink. Not seeing any thing to 
make him uneasy, he soon forgot his fear, and 
was just beginning to enjoy himself, when he 
was startled by a loud knocking at the outer 
door, which made the whole house shake. 

“ Ah, that’s the giant; and if he sees you he 
will kill you and me too,” cried the poor woman, 
trembling all over. “ What shall I do ? ” 

“ Hide me in the oven,” cried Jack, now as 
bold as a lion at the thought of being face to 
face with his father’s cruel murderer. So he 
crept into the oven, for there was no fire near 
it, and listened to the giant’s loud voice and 
heavy step as he went up and down the kitchen, 

217 






Golden Book of Tales. 

scolding his wife. At last he seated himself at 
table ; and Jack, peeping through a crevice in 
the oven, was amazed to see how much food 
he devoured. It seemed as if he never would 
finish eating and drinking ; but he stopped at 
last, and, leaning back, called to his wife in a 
voice like thunder, — 

“ Bring me my hen ! ” She obeyed, and 
placed upon the table a very beautiful live 
hen. 

“ Lay ! ” roared the giant ; and the hen laid 
immediately an egg of solid gold. “ Lay 
another ! ” And every time the giant said this, 
the hen laid a larger egg than before. For a 
long time he amused himself with his hen, and 
then sent his wife to bed, while he fell asleep 
by the fireside, and snored like the roaring of 
cannon. 

As soon as he was asleep, Jack crept out of 
the oven, seized the hen, and ran off with her. 
He got safely out of the house, and, finding 
his way along the road by which he had come, 
reached the top of the bean-stalk, and de¬ 
scended in safety. His mother was overjoyed 

218 





Jack and the Bean-stalk. 



to see him, for she thought he had come to 
some ill end. 

“ Not a bit of it, mother. 

Look here! ” and he showed 
her the hen. “ Now lay ! ” 
and the hen obeyed him as 


readily as the giant, 
y and laid as many 
golden eggs as he wished. 

These eggs being sold, 
Jack and his mother had 


219 
























Golden Book of Tales. 

plenty of money, and for some months lived 
very happily together. Then Jack had another 
great longing to climb the bean-stalk, and carry 
away some more of the giant’s riches. He had 
told his mother of his adventure, but had been 
very careful not to say a word about his father. 
He thought of his journey again and again, 
but still he could not venture to tell his 
mother, for he knew very well that she would 
try to prevent his going. However, one day 
he told her boldly that he must make an¬ 
other journey up the bean-stalk. She begged 
and prayed him not to think of it, and tried 
all in her power to dissuade him. She told 
him that the giant’s wife would certainly know 
him again, and that the giant would like 
nothing better than to get him into his power, 
in order that he might put him to a cruel 
death, and thus be revenged for the loss of 
his hen. 

Jack, finding that all his arguments were use¬ 
less, ceased speaking, though he was firmly 
resolved to go. He had a dress prepared 
which would disguise him, and something to 
220 





Jack and the Bean-stalk. 

color his skin ; and then he thought it impossi¬ 
ble for any one to know him. 

The next morning he rose very early, and, 
unseen by any one, climbed the bean-stalk a 
second time. He was very tired when he 
reached the top, and very hungry. Having 
rested some time on a heap of stones, he went 
on his way to the giant’s mansion, which he 
reached late in the evening. The woman was 
at the door as before. Jack went up and spoke 
to her, at the same time telling her a pitiful 
tale, and requesting that she would give him 
something to eat and drink, and also a night’s 
lodging. 

She told him (what he knew before very 
well) that her husband was a powerful and 
cruel giant, and also that she had one night 
admitted a poor, hungry, friendless boy, but 
that the little ungrateful fellow had stolen one 
of the giant’s treasures, and ever since then 
her husband had been worse than before, using 
her very cruelly, and continually scolding her 
for being the cause of his misfortune. 

Jack felt sorry for her, but said nothing, and 
221 






Golden Book of Tales. 

did his best to persuade her to admit him. 
This was a very hard task, but at last she con¬ 
sented ; and, as she led the way, Jack ob¬ 
served that every thing was just as he had 
found it before. She took him into the kitchen, 
and after he had done eating and drinking, she 
hid him in an old lumber-closet. The giant 
returned at the usual time, and walked in so 
heavily that the house was shaken to its foun¬ 
dation. He seated himself by the fire, and soon 
after exclaimed, “ Wife, I smell fresh meat! ” 

The wife replied it was the crows, which had 
brought a piece of raw meat, and left it at the 
top of the house. While supper was prepar¬ 
ing, the giant was very ill-tempered and im¬ 
patient, frequently lifting up his hand to strike 
his wife for not being quick enough. He was 
also continually scolding her for the loss of his 
wonderful hen. 

At last, having ended his supper, he cried, 
“ Give me something to amuse me, — my harp 
or my money-bags.” 

“ Which will you have, my dear ? ” said the 
wife, humbly. 

222 





Jack and the Bean-stalk. 

“ My money-bags, because they are the 
heaviest to carry,” thundered he. 

She brought them, staggering under the 
‘weight. There were two bags, one filled with 
new guineas, and the other with new shillings. 
These she emptied out on the table, and the 
giant began counting them in great glee. 
“ Now you may go to bed, you old fool ! ” So 
the wife crept away. 

Jack, from his hiding-place, watched the 
counting of the money, which he knew was his 
poor father’s, and wished it was his own ; it 
would give him much less trouble than going 
about selling the golden eggs. The giant, little 
thinking he was so closely watched, counted 
it all, and then put it back in the two bags, 
which he tied up very carefully, and placed 
beside his chair, with his little dog to guard 
them. At last he fell asleep as before, and 
snored so loud that the noise was like the 
roaring of the sea in a high wind, when the tide 
is coming in. 

When Jack thought all was safe, he crept out, 
in order to carry off the two bags of money ; 

223 






Golden Book of Tales. 

but just as he laid his hand upon one of them, 
the little dog, which he had not noticed before, 
started from under the giants chair, and barked 
loudly. Instead of trying to escape, Jack stood 
still, though expecting his enemy to awake 
every instant. The giant, however, continued 
in a sound sleep ; and Jack, seeing a piece of 
meat, threw it to the dog. He at once stopped 
barking, and began to devour it. So Jack car¬ 
ried off the bags, one on each shoulder; but 
they were so heavy that it took him two whole 
days to descend the bean-stalk, and get back 
to his mother’s door. 

When he came he found the cottage de¬ 
serted. He ran from one room to another, 
without being able to find any one. He then 
hastened into the village, hoping to see some 
of the neighbors, who could inform him where 
he could find his mother. An old woman at 
last directed him to a neighboring house, where 
she was ill of a fever. He was greatly shocked 
at finding her dying, as he thought, and blamed 
himself bitterly as the cause of it all. However, 
at sight of her dear son, the poor woman re- 

224 





Jack and the Bean-stalk. 

vived, and slowly got well. Jack gave her his 
two money-bags; so they had the cottage re¬ 
built and well furnished, and were happier than 
they had ever been before. 

For three years Jack scarcely thought of the 
bean-stalk; but he could not wholly forget it, 
though he feared making his mother unhappy. 
It was useless trying to amuse himself. He be¬ 
came thoughtful, and would arise at the first 
dawn of day, and sit looking at the bean-stalk 
for hours together. His mother saw that, some¬ 
thing preyed upon his mind, and endeavored to 
find out the cause ; but Jack knew too well what 
the consequence would be if she succeeded. 
He did his utmost, therefore, to conquer the 
great desire he had for another journey up the 
bean-stalk. 

Finding, however, that his inclination grew 
too strong for him, he began secretly to make 
ready for his journey. He got a new disguise, 
better than the former; and when the longest 
day of summer came he woke as soon as it 
was light, and, without telling his mother, as¬ 
cended the bean-stalk. This journey was much 

225 





Golden Book of Tales , 

the same as his two former ones. He arrived 
at the giant’s mansion in the evening, and 
found the wife standing, as usual, at the door. 
Jack had disguised himself so completely that 
she did not appear to have the least recollec¬ 
tion of him; still, when he pleaded hunger and 
poverty, in order to gain admittance, he found 
it very difficult indeed to persuade her. But 
at last he succeeded, and was concealed in the 
kettle. 

When the giant returned, he said furiously, 
“ I smell fresh meat! ” But Jack felt quite 
composed, as the giant had been so easily sat¬ 
isfied before. However, the giant started up 
suddenly, and, in spite of all his wife could 
say, he searched all round the room. Mean¬ 
while Jack was exceedingly terrified, wishing 
himself at home a thousand times; but when 
the giant approached the kettle, and put his 
hand upon the lid, Jack thought his death was 
certain. However, nothing happened; for the 
giant did not take the trouble to lift up the 
lid, but sat down shortly by the fireside, and 
began to eat his enormous supper. 

226 





yack and the Bean-stalk . 

When he had finished, he commanded his 
wife to fetch down his harp. Jack peeped 
from under the kettle-lid, and saw a most 
beautiful harp. The giant placed it on the 
table, and said “ Play! ” And it played of its 
own accord, without anybody touching it, the 
most lovely music. Jack, who was a very 
good musician, was delighted. He was more 
anxious to get this than any other of his 
enemy’s treasures. But, the giant not being 
particularly fond of music, the harp had only 
the effect of lulling him to sleep earlier than 
usual. As for the wife, she had gone to bed 
as soon as ever she could. 

As soon as he thought all was safe, Jack 
got out of the kettle, and, seizing the harp, 
was eagerly running off with it. But the harp 
was enchanted by a fairy, and as soon as it 
found itself in strange hands it called out 
loudly, just as if it had been alive, “Master! 
Master! ” 

The giant awoke, started up, and saw Jack 
scampering away as fast as his legs could carry 
him. “ O you villain! it is you who have 

227 





Golden Book of Tales. 



robbed me of my hen and 
my money-bags, and now 
you are stealing my harp 
also. Wait till I catch you, 
and I’ll eat you up alive ! ” 
“Very well, try!” shouted 
Jack, who was not a bit 
afraid, for he saw the giant 
was so tipsy he could hardly 
stand, much less run. Jack 
himself had young legs and 
a clear conscience, which 
carry a man a long way. 





Jack and the Bean-stalk. 

So, after leading the giant quite a race, he con¬ 
trived to be first at the top of the bean-stalk, 
and then scrambled down it as fast as he 
could, the harp playing all the while the most 
melancholy music, till he said “Stop!” and it 
stopped. 

When he reached the bottom, Jack found 
his mother sitting at her cottage-door, weep¬ 
ing. “ Here, mother, don’t cry: just give me 
a hatchet; make haste.” He knew there was 
not a moment to spare, for he saw the giant 
beginning to descend the bean-stalk. How¬ 
ever, the giant was too late; the monster’s 
wicked deeds had come to an end. Jack with 
his hatchet cut the bean-stalk close off at the 
root; and the giant fell head first into the 
garden, and was killed on the spot. 

Instantly the fairy appeared, and explained 
every thing to Jack’s mother, begging her to 
forgive Jack, who was his father’s own son for 
bravery and generosity, and who would be sure 
to make her happy for the rest of her days. 

So all ended well, and nothing was ever more 
heard or seen of the wonderful bean-stalk. 

229 






THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER. 


HE sun was shining on the sea, 
Shining with all his might; 

He did his very best to make 
The billows smooth and bright: 
And this was odd, because it was 
The middle of the night. 

The moon was shining sulkily, 
Because she thought the sun 
Had got no business to be there 
After the day was done : 

“ It’s very rude of him,” she said, 
“ To come, and spoil the fun ! ” 



The sea was wet as wet could be, 
The sands were dry as dry. 

You could not see a cloud, because 
No cloud was in the sky : 

230 












The IVaims and the Carpenter. 

No birds were flying overhead — 
There were no birds to fly. 

The Walrus and the Carpenter 
Were walking close at hand ; 
They wept like any thing to see 
Such quantities of sand : 

“ If this were only cleared away,” 
They said, it would be grand ! ” 


“ If seven maids with seven mops 
Swept it for half a year, 



231 











Golden Book of Tales. 

Do you suppose,” the Walrus said, 
“That they could get it clear?” 
“ I doubt it,” said the Carpenter, 
And shed a bitter tear. 



“ O Oysters, come and walk with us ! ” 
The Walrus did beseech ; 

“ A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk, 
Along the briny beach : 

We can not do with more than four, 
To give a hand to each.” 

The eldest Oyster looked at him, 

But never a word he said: 

232 













The TTair us and the Carpenter. 

The eldest Oyster winked his eye. 

And shook his heavy head, — 

Meaning to say he did not choose 
To leave the oyster-bed. 

But four young Oysters hurried up, 

All eager for the treat: 

Their coats were brushed, their faces washed, 
Their shoes were clean and neat — 

And this was odd, because, you know, 

They hadn’t any feet. 

Four other Oysters followed them, 

And yet another four; 

And thick and fast they came at last, 

And more, and more, and more, — 

All hopping through the frothy waves, 

And scrambling to the shore. 

The Walrus and the Carpenter 
Walked on a mile or so, 

And then they rested on a rock 
Conveniently low: 

233 





Golden Book of Tales. 

And all the little Oysters stood 
And waited in a row. 

“ The time has come,” the Walrus said, 

“ To talk of many things: 

Of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax — 
Of cabbages — and kings — 

And why the sea is boiling hot— 

And whether pigs have wings.” 



“ But wait a bit,” the Oysters cried, 
“Before we have our chat; 

For some of us are out of breath, 
And all of us are fat! ” 

234 






The Walrus and the Carpenter. 

“ No hurry! ” said the Carpenter. 

They thanked him much for that. 

“ A loaf of bread,” the Walrus said, 

“ Is what we chiefly need : 

Pepper and vinegar besides 
Are very good indeed : 

- Now if you’re ready, Oysters dear, 

We can begin to feed.” 

“ But not on us! ” the Oysters cried, 
Turning a little blue. 

After such kindness, that would be 
A dismal thing to do ! ” 

“ The night is fine,” the Walrus said : 
“Do you admire the view? 

“ It was so kind of you to come ! 

And you are very nice! ” 

The Carpenter said nothing but, 

“ Cut us another slice : 

I wish you were not quite so deaf— 
I’ve had to ask you twice ! ” 

235 - 





Golden Book of Tales. 

“ It seems a shame,” the Walrus said, 
“ To play them such a trick, 

After we’ve brought them out so far, 
And made them trot so quick! ” 

The Carpenter said nothing but, 

“The butter’s spread too thick!” 



“ I weep for you,” the Walrus said : 

“ I deeply sympathize.” 

With sobs and tears he sorted out 
Those of the largest size, 

Holding his pocket-handkerchief 
Before his streaming eyes. 

236 








The IValrus and the Carpenter . 

“ O Oysters,” said the Carpenter, 
“You’ve had a pleasant run! 

Shall we be trotting home again ? ” 
But answer came there none — 

And this was scarcely odd, because 
They’d eaten every one. 








STORY OF THE NOSES. 

r Dewitz, in the neighborhood of 
Prague, once lived a rich and whimsi¬ 
cal old farmer, who had a beautiful 
daughter. The students of Prague 
often walked in the direction of De¬ 
witz, and more than one of them of¬ 
fered to follow the plow in hopes of 
becoming the son-in-law of the farmer. 

The first thing the cunning peasant said to 
each new servant was this: “I engage you for 
a year, that is, till the cuckoo sings the return 
of spring; but if, from now till then, you say 
once that you are not satisfied, I will cut off 
the end of your nose. If I say I am not satis¬ 
fied, you may cut off mine,” he added, laughing. 
And he did as he said. Prague was full of 
students with the ends of their noses glued on. 

238 














Story of the Noses. 



A young man by the name of Coranda, 
somewhat ungainly in manner, but cool and 
cunning, took it into his 
head to try the adventure. 

The farmer received him 
with his usual good-nature, 
and, when the bargain was 
made, sent him to the field 
to work. At breakfast-time 
the other servants were 


239 












Golden Book of Tales. 

called, but good care was taken to forget Coranda. 
At dinner it was the same. Coranda gave him¬ 
self no trouble about it. He went to the house, 
and, while the farmer’s wife was feeding the 
chickens, he unhooked an enormous ham from 
the kitchen rafters, took a huge loaf from the 
cupboard, and went back to the fields to dine 
and take a nap. 

“ Are you satisfied ? ” cried the farmer, when 
he returned at night. 

“ Perfectly satisfied,” said Coranda : “ 1 have 
dined better than you have.” 

Just then the farmer’s wife came rushing in, 
crying that her ham was gone. Coranda laughed, 
and the farmer turned pale. 

“ Are you not satisfied ? ” asked Coranda. 

“ A ham is only a ham,” answered his mas¬ 
ter. “ Such a trifle does not trouble me.” But 
after that time he took good care not to leave 
the student fasting. 

Sunday came. The farmer and his wife 
seated themselves in the wagon to go to church, 
saying to Coranda, “ It is your business to cook 
the dinner. Cut up the piece of meat you see 

240 





Story of the Noses . 

yonder, with onions, carrots, leeks, and parsley , 
and boil them all together in the great pot 
over the kitchen-fire.” 

“ Very well,” answered Coranda. 

Now, there was a little pet dog at the farm¬ 
house by the name of Parsley. Coranda killed 
him, skinned him, cut him up with the meat 
and vegetables, and put the whole to boil over 
the kitchen-fire. When the farmer’s wife re¬ 
turned, she called her favorite ; but, alas ! she 
saw nothing but a bloody skin hanging by the 
window. 

“ What have you done ? ” said she to Coranda. 

“ What you ordered me to do, mistress. I 
have boiled the meat, onions, carrots, leeks, and 
Parsley all together.” 

“ Wicked wretch ! ” cried the farmer, “ had 
you the heart to kill the innocent creature that 
was the joy of the house ? ” 

“ Are you not satisfied ? ” said Coranda, tak¬ 
ing his knife from his pocket. 

“ I did not say that I was not,” replied the 
farmer. “ A dead dog is nothing but a dead 
dog.” But he sighed. 

241 





Golden Book of Tales. 

A few days after, the farmer and his wife 
went to market. Fearing their terrible servant, 
they told him to stay at home, and do exactly 
what he saw the others do. 

“Very well,” said Coranda good-humoredly. 

In the yard there was an old shed, the roof 
of which was falling to pieces. The carpenters 
came to repair it, and began, of course, by tear¬ 
ing down the roof. Coranda took a ladder, and 
mounted the roof of the house, which was quite 
new. Shingles, lath, nails, and tiles, — he tore 
off every thing, and scattered them all to the 
winds. When the farmer returned, the house 
was open to the sky. 

“ Villain ! ” said he, “ what new trick have 
you played me ? ” 

“ I have obeyed you, master,” answered Co¬ 
randa. “You told me to do exactly what I 
saw others do. Are you not satisfied ? ” And 
he took out his knife. 

“ Satisfied ! ” returned the farmer ; “ why 

should I not be satisfied ? A few shingles more 
or less will not ruin me.” But he sighed. 

When night came, the farmer and his wife 

242 





Story of the Noses. 

said to each other that it was high time to get 
rid of this fiend of a servant. Like most sen¬ 
sible people, they never did any thing without 
consulting their daughter ; for in Bohemia it is 
always supposed that children are brighter than 
their parents. 

“ Father,” said the daughter Helen, “ I will 
hide in the great pear-tree early in the morn¬ 
ing, and call like a cuckoo. You can tell 
Coranda that the year is up, since the cuc¬ 
koo is singing. Then pay him, and send him 
away.” 

Early in the morning the plaintive cry of 
the cuckoo was heard through the fields. The 
farmer seemed surprised. “ Well, my boy, 
spring is come,” said he. “ Do you hear the 
cuckoo singing yonder ? I will pay you, and 
we will part good friends.” 

“ A cuckoo ! ” said Coranda ; “ that is a bird 
which I have always wanted to see.” So he 
ran to the tree, and shook it with all his might, 
when behold! down from the branches fell a 
young girl, fortunately more frightened than 
hurt. 

243 





Golden Book of Tales. 


“ Villain ! ” cried the farmer. 

“ Are you not satisfied ? ” said Coranda, 
opening his knife. 

“ Wretch! you kill my daughter, and you 
think that I ought to be satisfied! I am 
furious. Begone, if you would not die by my 
hand! ” 

“ I will go when I have cut off your nose,” 
said Coranda. “ I have kept my word: do you 
keep yours.” 

“Stop!” cried the farmer, putting his hand 
before his face: “ you will surely let me re¬ 
deem my nose ? ” 

Coranda answered that that would depend 
on what the farmer offered. Then the farmer 
offered ten sheep for his nose; but Coranda 
said no. Then the farmer offered ten cows; 
but Coranda declared he would rather cut off 
the farmer’s nose. And he sharpened his knife 
on the door-step. 

“ Father,” said Helen, “ the fault was mine, 
and I must pay the forfeit. Coranda, will you 
take my hand instead of my father’s nose?” 

“With all my heart,” replied Coranda. 


244 





Story of the Noses. 

“ I make one condition,” said the young girl. 
“ The first of us that is not satisfied after mar¬ 
riage shall have his nose cut off by the other.” 

“ Good,” replied Coranda. “ I would rather it 
was the tongue ; but that will come next.” 

Never was a finer wedding seen at Prague, 
and never was there a happier household. 
Coranda and the beautiful Helen were a model 
pair. The husband and wife were never heard 
to complain of each other; and, thanks to their 
ingenious bargain, they kept for long years 
both their love and their noses. 

245 








PAST AND PRESENT. 

REMEMBER, I remember, 

The house where I was born; 
The little window, where the sun 
Came peeping in at morn : 

He never came a wink too soon, 
Nor brought too long a day ; 
But now I often wish the night 
Had borne my breath away! 


I remember, I remember, 

The roses red and white, 

The violets and the lily-cups, 
Those flowers made of light; 
The lilacs where the robin built, 
And where my brother set 
The laburnum, on his birthday: 
The tree is living yet! 


246 












Past and Present. 


I remember, I remember, 

Where I was used to swing, 

And thought the air must rush as fresh 
To swallows on the wing. 

My spirit flew in feathers then, 

That is so heavy now, 

And summer pools could hardly cool 
The fever on my brow. 

I remember, I remember, 

The fir-trees dark and high; 

I used to think their slender tops 
Were close against the sky. 

It was a childish ignorance, 

But now ’tis little joy 
To know I’m farther off from heaven 
Than when I was a boy. 

247 







HOP-O’-MY-THUMB. 

HERE once lived in a village a wood¬ 
cutter and his wife, who had seven 
children, all boys. The eldest was 
only ten years old, and the youngest 
was seven. The family was very poor, 
for not one of the boys was old enough 
to earn a living. 

But what was worse, the youngest was a 
puny little fellow who hardly ever spoke a 
word. Now this was a mark of his good 
sense, but it made his father and mother think 
him silly, and that at last he would turn out 
quite a fool. 

This boy was the smallest child ever seen ; 
for when he was born he was no bigger than 

oo 

a man’s thumb, and so he was called Hop-o’- 
my-thumb. The poor child was the drudge of 

248 



















Hop-o -my-thumb . 

the whole house, and was blamed for every 
thing that was done wrong. In spite of all 
this, Hop-o’-my-thumb was far more clever 
than any of his brothers ; and though he spoke 
but little, he heard and knew more than peo¬ 
ple thought. 

Just at this time there was a famine in the 
land, and the wood-cutter and his wife could 
not give their boys the food they were used 
to. The father and mother grieved some time, 
and then thought that they must somehow get 
rid of their children. 

So one night when the boys had gone to 
bed, and the wood-cutter and his wife were 
sitting over a few lighted sticks, to warm 
themselves, the husband sighed deeply, and 
said, “ You see, my dear, we can not feed our 
children any longer, and I can not bear to see 
them die of hunger before my eyes. We must 
take them to-morrow morning to the forest, 
and leave them in the thickest part of it, so 
that they will not be able to find their way 
back.” 

“ Ah! ” cried the poor wife, “ you never can 

249 





Golden Book of Tales. 

do so cruel a thing.” The husband begged 
her to think how very poor they were. The 
wife replied that if she was poor, she was 
still their mother. But at last she thought 
how dreadful it would be to see them starve 
to death before their eyes; so she agreed to 
what her husband had said, and then went 
sobbing to bed. 

Hop-o’-my-thumb, who had been awake all 
the time, heard all that was said, and passed 
the night thinking what he should do the next 
morning. He rose early, and ran to a brook, 
where he filled his pockets with small white 
pebbles, and then went back home. 

In the morning they all set out. But Hop- 
o’-my-thumb did not say a word to any of his 
brothers about what he had heard. They came 
to a forest that was so very thick that they 
could not see each other ten yards off. The 
wood-cutter set to work cutting down trees, 
and when the father and mother saw the 
young ones were all very busy gathering 
sticks, they slipped away without being seen. 

The children soon found themselves alone, 

250 








Hop-o -my-thumb. 


and began to cry as loud as they could. Hop- 
o’-my-thumb let them cry on, for he knew well 
enough how to lead them safe home, because 
he had dropped the white pebbles he had in 






Golden Book of Tales. 

his pocket along all the way they had come. 
All he said to them was, “ Never mind, my 
lads; father and mother have left us here all 
alone, but only take care to follow me, and I 
will lead you back again.” 

When they heard this, they stopped crying, 
and followed Hop-o’-my-thumb, who soon 
brought them home. At first they did not 
dare to go in; but stood at the door to hear 
what their parents were talking about. 

Just as the wood-cutter and his wife had 
reached home without their children, a rich 
gentleman of the village sent to pay them two 
pieces of gold, for work they had done for 
him. This money he had owed them so long 
that they never thought of getting a penny of 
it. It made them quite happy; for the poor 
creatures were very hungry, and had no way 
of getting any thing to eat. 

The wood-cutter sent his wife out immedi¬ 
ately to buy some meat. It was so long since 
she had eaten a hearty meal, that she bought 
enough meat for six or eight persons. The 
truth was, when she was thinking what to get 

252 





Hop-o -my-thumb. 

for dinner, she forgot that her children were 
not at home ; but as soon as she and her hus¬ 
band had done eating, she cried out, “ Alas! 
where are our poor children ? how they would 
feast on what we have left! Oh mercy! per¬ 
haps they have already been eaten by the hun¬ 
gry wolves! ” 

The poor woman shed plenty of tears: 
“Alas! alas!” said she, over and over again, 
“ what is become of my dear children ? ” The 
children, who were all at the door, cried out 
together, “ Here we are, mother, here we 
are! ” The mother flew like lightning to let 
them in, and kissed every one of them. 

The wood-cutter and his wife were very 
happy at having their children once more with 
them, and their joy lasted till their money was 
all gone; but then they found themselves 
quite as badly off as before. And so by 
degrees they again thought of leaving them in 
the forest: and this time they made up their 
minds that they would take them a great deal 
farther than they did at first. 

But Hop-o’-my thumb heard all that passed 
253 





Golden Book of Tales. 

between them. Still he cared very little about 
it, for he thought it would be easy for him to 
do what he had done before. He got up very 
early the next morning to go to the brook to 
get more pebbles. But the door was double- 
locked. Hop-o’-my-thumb was now quite at a 
loss what to do. 

At breakfast the mother gave each of the 
children a piece of bread ; and then it came 
into the little boy’s head that he could make 
his bread do as well as the pebbles, by drop¬ 
ping crumbs of it all the way as he went. So 
he did not eat his piece, but slipped it into his 
pocket. 

It was not long before they all set out. The 
parents having led them into the very thickest 
and darkest part of the forest, slipped away as 
before, and left the children by themselves. 
This did not make Hop-o’-my-thumb down¬ 
hearted, for he felt sure they could find their 
way back by means of the crumbs that he had 
dropped by the way. But when he came to 
look for them not a crumb was left, for the 
birds had eaten them all up. 

254 





Hop-o'-my-thumb . 

The poor children were now sadly off: the 
farther they went the harder it was for them 
to get out of the forest. At last night came on, 
and the noise of the wind among the trees 
seemed to them like the howling of wolves, 
and every moment they thought they would be 
eaten up. They hardly dared to speak a word, 
or to move a limb. 

Hop-o’-my-thumb climbed up to the top of 
a tree before it was quite dark, and looked 
round on all sides to see if he could find any 
way of getting help. He saw, a great way off, 
a small light like a candle. He then came 
down from the tree, and he and his brothers 
walked on toward the place where he had seen 
the light. At last they got sight of it. Then 
they walked faster, and when they were almost 
tired out, they came to the house where the 
light was. 

Hop-o’-my-thumb and his brothers knocked 
at the door, which was opened by a pleasant- 
looking dame, who asked them where they 
came from. Hop-o’-my-thumb told her that they 
were poor children who had lost their way in 
255 





Golden Book of Tales. 

the forest, and begged her to give them a bed 
till morning. When the dame saw their pretty 
faces, she began to shed tears, and said, “ Ah ! 
my poor children, you do not know what place 
you have come to. This is the house of an 
ogre, who eats up little boys and girls.” 

“ Alas! madam,” replied Hop-o’-my-thumb, 
“ what shall we do ? If we go back to the 
forest, we are sure to be torn to pieces by the 
wolves. We would rather be eaten by your 
ogre. Besides, when he sees us, perhaps he 
may take pity on us, and spare our lives.” 

The ogre’s wife thought she could hide them 
from her husband till morning; so she let them 
go in and warm themselves by a good fire, 
before which there was a whole sheep roasting 
for the ogre’s supper. When they had stood a 
short time by the fire, there came a loud 
knocking at the door. The dame hurried the 
children under the bed, and told them to lie 
still, and she then let her husband in. 

The ogre asked if supper was ready, and if 
the wine had been fetched from the cellar; and 
then he sat down at the table. In a minute or 

256 





Hop-o'-my-thumb. 

two the ogre began to snuff right and left, and 
said he smelt child’s flesh. 

“ It must be this calf which has just been 
killed,” said his wife. 

“ I smell child’s flesh, I tell you once more,” 
cried the ogre, looking all about the room ; “ I 
smell child’s flesh.” 

As soon as he had spoken these words, he 
rose from his chair, and went toward the bed. 

“ Ah, mistress ! ” said he, “ you thought to 
cheat me, did you ? You are old and tough 
yourself, or I would eat you up too ! But 
come, come : this is lucky ; the brats will make 
a nice dish for my friends, the three ogres, who 
are coming to dine with me to-morrow.” 

He then drew the lads out one by one from 
under the bed. They fell on their knees, and 
begged for mercy. But this ogre was the most 
cruel of all ogres, and instead of feeling any 
pity, he only thought how sweet and tender 
their flesh would be. So he told his wife 
they would be nice morsels, if she served them 
up with plenty of sauce. 

He then fetched a large knife, and began 

257 






Golden Book of Tales . 

to sharpen it; and all the while he came nearer 
and nearer to the bed. The ogre took up one 
of the children, and was going to set about 
cutting him to pieces; but his wife said to him, 
“ What in the world makes you take the trouble 
of killing them to-night ? Will it not be time 
enough to-morrow morning ? ” 

“ Hold your tongue! ” replied the ogre ; 
“ they will grow tender by being kept a little 
while after they are killed.” 

“ But,” said his wife, “ you have got so much 
meat in the house already, — a calf, two sheep, 
and half a pig ! ” 

“ True,” said the ogre, “ so give them all a 
good supper, that they may not get lean, and 
then send them to bed.” 

The good dame gladly gave them plenty for 
their supper, but the poor children were so 
frightened that they could not eat a bit. 

The ogre sat down to his wine, very much 
pleased with the thought of giving his friends 
such a dainty dish. This made him drink 
more than usual, and he soon went to bed. 
Now the ogre had seven young daughters. 

2 S 8 





Hop-o -my-thumb. 

These ogresses had been put to bed very early 
that night; they were all in one large bed, and 
each had a crown of gold on her head. There 
was another bed of the same size in the room, 
and in this the ogres wife put the seven little 
boys. 

Hop-o’-my-thumb was afraid that the ogre 
would wake in the night, and kill him and his 
brothers while they were asleep. So he quietly 
got out of bed, took off all his brothers’ night¬ 
caps, and crept with them to the bed where 
the ogre’s daughters were. Then he took off 
their crowns, and instead put the nightcaps 
on their heads, and placed the crowns on his 
brothers’ heads and his own, and got into bed 
again. 

The ogre awoke soon after midnight, and 
began to be very sorry that he had put off 
killing the boys till morning : so he jumped out 
of bed, and took hold of his large knife. He 
then walked softly to the room where they 
slept, and went up to the bed where the boys 
were all asleep. He touched their heads one 
at a time, and feeling the crowns of gold, said 
259 






Golden Book of Tales. 

to himself, “ Oho ! I came near making a sad 
mistake. I must have drunk too much wine 
last night.” 

Then he went to the bed where the little 
ogresses were ; and when he felt the nightcaps, 
he said, “ Ah! here you are, my lads : ” and 
cut the throats of all his daughters. 

Very much pleased when he had done this, he 
went back to his own bed. As soon as Hop- 
o’-my-thumb, who had been awake all the time, 
heard the ogre snore, he waked his brothers, 
and told them to put on their clothes quickly, 
and follow him. 

They stole down softly into the garden, 
jumped from the wall into the road, and ran 
away as fast as their legs could carry them. 
But they were so much afraid all the while, that 
they hardly knew which way to take. In the 
morning the ogre awoke, and said to his wife, 
grinning, “ My dear, go and dress the young 
rogues I saw last night.” 

The wife, glad to hear her husband speak so 
kindly, supposed he wanted her to help them 
to put on their clothes. So she went up stairs, 

260 





Hop-o'-my-thumb . 

and the first thing she saw was her seven 
daughters lying dead in their bed. This threw 
her into a fainting fit. The ogre, vexed at her 
delay, went himself to help her. He was as 
much shocked as she had been at the dreadful 
sight. “Ah! what have I done?” he cried; 
“ but the little villains shall pay for it, I warrant 
them.” 

He first threw some water on his wife’s face; 
and, as soon as she came to herself, he said to 
her, “ Bring me quickly my seven-league boots, 
that I may go and catch the little wretches.” 
The ogre then put on these boots, and, setting 
out at full speed, soon came near the place 
where the poor children were, close to the 
wood-cutter’s cottage. 

They had seen the ogre stepping from moun¬ 
tain to mountain at one step, and crossing rivers 
as if they had been tiny brooks. Hop-o’-my- 
thumb, spying a hollow place under a large 
rock, made his brothers get into it. He then 
crept in himself, but kept his eye fixed on the 
ogre, to see what he would do next. 

The ogre found himself quite weary with the 

261 





Golden Book of Tales. 


journey he had gone, for seven-league boots 
are very tiresome to the person who wears 
them. So he now began to think of resting, 
and happened to sit down on the very rock 
where the poor children were hid. As he was 
so tired, and it was a very hot day, he fell 
fast asleep, and soon began to snore so loud 
that the little fellows were terrified. 

When Hop-o’-my-thumb saw this he said to 
his brothers, “ Courage, my lads! never fear! 
you have nothing to do but steal away and get 
home while the ogre is fast asleep. Leave me 
to shift for myself.” 

The brothers now were very glad to do what¬ 
ever he told them, and soon came to their 
father’s house. Then Hop-o’-my-thumb went 
softly up to the ogre, pulled off his seven-league 
boots very gently, and put them on. For though 
the boots were very large, yet being fairy-boots, 
they could make themselves small enough to fit 
anybody. In fact they fitted little Hop-o’-my- 
thumb as though they had been made for him. 

As soon as ever Hop-o’-my-thumb had made 
sure of the ogre’s seven-league boots, he went 

262 








Hop-o-my-thumb. 

to the palace, and offered his services to the 
king. By means of the magic boots he was of 
more use to the king than all his mail-coaches. 
In a short time he made money enough to keep 
himself, his father, mother, and six brothers, for 
the rest of their lives. 

By and by, Hop-o’-my-thumb, who had become 
the king’s first favorite, heard that the ogre was 
dead ; and the first thing he did was to tell his 
majesty what the good-natured ogress had done 
to save the lives of himself and brothers. 

The king was so much pleased at what he 
heard that he had the good dame brought to 
his court, where she lived very happily for many 
years. As for Hop-o’-my-thumb, he grew more 
witty and brave every day, till at last the king 
made him the greatest lord in the kingdom, 
and gave him control of all his affairs. 

263 











TRUST. 

PICTURE memory brings to me : 

I look across the years, and see 
Myself beside my mother’s knee. 

I feel her gentle hand restrain 
My selfish moods, and know again 
A child’s blind sense of wrong and 
pain. 

But wiser now, a man gray grown, 
My childhood’s needs are better 
known, 

My mother’s chastening love I 


Gray grown, but in our Father’s sight 
A child still groping for the light 
To read His works and ways aright. 

264 






Trust. 


I bow myself beneath his hand: 

That pain itself for good was planned, 

I trust, but can not understand. 

I fondly dream it needs must be, 

That, as my mother dealt with me, 

So with His children dealeth He. 

I wait, and trust the end will prove 
That here and there, below, above, 

The chastening heals, the pain is love ! 

265 















HOW THESEUS SLEW THE MINOTAUR. 

HEN the spring- drew near, all the 
Athenians grew sad and silent, and 
Theseus saw it, and asked the reason ; 
but no one would answer him a word. 

Then he went to his father, and 
asked him ; but Higeus turned away 
his face and wept. 

“Do not ask, my son, beforehand, about 
evils which must happen : it is enough to have 
to face them when they come.” 

When the spring came, a herald came to 
Athens, and stood in the market, and cried, 
“ O people and king of Athens, where is your 
yearly tribute ? ” Then a great lamentation 
arose throughout the city. But Theseus stood 
up to the herald, and cried, — , 

“ And who are you, dog-faced, who dare 

266 







How Theseus slew the Minotaur . 


demand tribute here ? If I did not reverence 
your herald’s staff, I would brain you with this 
club.” 

And the herald answered proudly, for he was 
a grave and ancient man, — 

“ Fair youth, I am not dog-faced or shame¬ 
less ; but I do my master’s bidding, Minos, the 
king of hundred-citied Crete, the wisest of all 
kings on earth. And you must be surely a 
stranger here, or you would know why I come, 
and that I come by right.” 

“ I am a stranger here. Tell me, then, why 
you come.” 

“To fetch the tribute which King ^Egeus 
promised to Minos, and confirmed his promise 
with an oath. For Minos conquered all this 
land, when he came hither with a great fleet of 
ships, enraged about the murder of his son. 
For his son Androgeos came hither to the 
games, and overcame all the Greeks in the 
sports, so that the people honored him as a 
hero. 

“ But when ^Egeus saw his valor, he envied 
him, and feared lest he should join the sons of 

267 





Golden Book of Tales . 

Pallas, and take away the scepter from him. 
So he plotted against his life, and slew him 
basely, no man knows how or where. Some 
say that he waylaid him on the road which 
goes to Thebes; and some, that he sent him 
against the bull of Marathon, that the beast 
might kill him. But ^Egeus says that the young 
men killed him from envy, because he had con¬ 
quered them in the games. So Minos came 
hither and avenged him, and would not depart 
till this land had promised him tribute, seven 
youths and seven maidens every year, who go 
with me in a black-sailed ship, till they come 
to hundred-citied Crete.” 

And Theseus ground his teeth together, and 
said, “Wert thou not a herald I would kill 
thee, for saying such things of my father; but 
I will go to him, and know the truth.” So he 
went to his father, and asked him; but he 
turned away his head and wept, and said, 
“ Blood was shed in the land unjustly, and by 
blood it is avenged. Break not my heart by 
questions; it is enough to endure in silence.” 

Then Theseus groaned inwardly, and said, 

268 





How Theseus slew the Minotaur. 


“ 1 will go myself with these youths and maid¬ 
ens, and kill Minos upon his royal throne.” 

And Aitgeus shrieked, and cried, “ You shall 
not go, my son, the light of my old age, to 
whom alone I look to rule this people after I 
am dead and gone. You shall not go, to die 
horribly, as those youths and maidens die ; for 
Minos thrusts them into a labyrinth. 

“From that labyrinth no one can escape, 
entangled in its winding ways, before they meet 
the Minotaur the monster, who feeds upon the 
flesh of men. There he devours them horribly, 
and they never see this land again.” 

Then Theseus grew-red, and his ears tingled, 
and his heart beat loud in his bosom. And he 
stood awhile like a tall stone pillar, on the cliffs 
above some hero’s grave ; and at last he spoke,— 
“Therefore all the more I will go with them, 
and slay the accursed beast. Have I not slain 
all evil-doers and monsters, that I might free 
this land ? Where are the fifty sons of Pallas ? 
And this Minotaur shall go the road which they 
have gone, and Minos himself, if he dare stay 


me. 


269 












Golden Book of Tales . 

“ But how will you slay him, my son ? For 
you must leave your club and your armor be¬ 
hind, and be cast to the monster defenseless 
and naked like the rest.” 

And Theseus said, “ Are there no stones in 
that labyrinth? and have I not fists and teeth?” 

Then ^Egeus clung to his knees; but he 
would not hear; and at last he let him go, 
weeping bitterly. 

And Theseus went out to the market-place 
where the herald stood, while they drew lots 
for the youths and maidens who were to sail 
in that doleful crew. 

And the people stood wailing and weeping, 
as the lot fell on this one and on that; but 
Theseus strode into the midst, and cried, — 

“ Here is a youth who needs no lot. I my¬ 
self will be one of the seven.” 

And the herald asked in wonder, “ Fair youth, 
know you whither you are going ? ” 

And Theseus said, “ I know. Let us go 
down to the black-sailed ship.” 

So they went down to the black-sailed ship ; 
seven maidens and seven youths, and Theseus 

270 








How Theseus slew the Minotaur. 


before them all, and the people following' them 
lamenting. 


But Theseus whispered to his companions, 
“ Have hope, for the monster is not immortal.” 
Then their hearts were comforted a little ; but 

271 



















Golden Book of Tales. 


they wept as they went on board, and the 
cliffs of Sunium rang, and all the isles of the 
Htgean Sea, with the voice of their lamenta¬ 
tion, as they sailed on toward their deaths in 
Crete. 

And at last they came to Crete, and to the 
palace of Minos the great king. He was the 
wisest of all mortal kings, and conquered all 
the /Egean isles; and his ships were as many 
as the sea-gulls, and his palace like a marble 
hill. And he sat among the pillars of the hall, 
upon his throne of beaten gold, and around 
him stood the speaking statues which Daedalus 
had made by his skill. 

For Daedalus was the most cunning of all 
Athenians, and he first invented the plumb-line, 
and the auger, and glue, and many a tool with 
which wood is wrought. And he first set up 
masts in ships, and yards, and his son made 
sails for them. But Perdix his nephew excelled 
him: for he first invented the saw and its 
teeth, copying it from the back-bone of a fish ; 
and invented, too, the chisel, and the compasses, 
and the potter’s wheel which molds the clay. 

272 







How Theseus slew the Minotaur. 


Therefore Daedalus envied him, and hurled 
him headlong from the temple of Athene ; but 
the goddess pitied him (for she loves the wise), 
and changed him into a partridge, which flits 
for ever about the hills. And Daedalus fled to 
Crete, to Minos, and worked* for him many a 
year, till he did a shameful deed, at which the 
sun hid his face on high. 

Then he fled from the anger of Minos, he 
and Icarus his son having made themselves 
wings of feathers, and fixed the feathers with 
wax. So they flew over the sea toward Sicily; 
but Icarus flew too near the sun, and the wax 
of his wings was melted, and he fell into the 
Icarian Sea. 

But Theseus stood before Minos, and they 
looked each other in the face ; and Minos bade 
take them to prison, and cast them to the 
monster one by one, that the death of Andro- 
geos might be avenged. Then Theseus cried, — 

“ A boon, O Minos ! Let me be thrown first 
to the beast; for I came hither for that very 
purpose, of my own will, and not by lot.” 

“ Who art thou, then, brave youth?” 

273 





Golden Book of Tales. 

“ I am the son of him whom of all men thou 
hatest most, ^igeus, the king of Athens, and 
I am come here to end this matter.” 

And Minos pondered awhile, looking stead¬ 
fastly at him, and he thought, “ The lad means 
to atone by his own death, for his .father’s sin ; ” 
and he answered at last, mildly, — 

“ Go back in peace, my son. It is a pity that 
one so brave should die.” 

But Theseus said, “ I have sworn that I will 
not go back till I have seen the monster face 
to face.” 

And at that Minos frowned, and said, “ Then 
thou shalt see him : take the madman away.” 

And they led Theseus away into the prison, 
with the other youths and maids. 

But Ariadne, Minos’s daughter, saw him as 
she came out of her white stone hall; and she 
loved him for his courage and his majesty, and 
said, “ Shame that such a youth should die! ” 
And by night she went down to the prison, 
and told him all her heart; and said, — 

“ Flee down to your ship at once, for I have 
bribed the guards before the door. Flee, you 

274 






How Theseus slew the Minotaur. 


and all your friends, and go back in peace to 
Greece; and take me, take me with you ! for I 
dare not stay after you are gone, for my father 
will kill me miserably if he knows what I have 
done.” 


And Theseus stood silent awhile, for he was 
astonished and confounded by her beauty ; but 
275 











Golden Book of Tales. 

at last he said, “ I can not go home in peace, 
till I have seen and slain this Minotaur, and 
avenged the deaths of the youths and maidens, 
and put an end to the terrors of my land.” 

“And will you kill the Minotaur? How, 
then ? ” 

“ I know not, nor do I care; but he must 
be strong if he be too strong for me.” 

Then she loved him all the more, and said, 
“ But when you have killed him, how will you 
find your way out of the labyrinth?” 

“ I know not, neither do I care ; but it must 
be a strange road, if I do not find it out before 
I have eaten up the monster’s carcass.” 

Then she loved him all the more, and said, — 

“ Fair youth, you are too bold ; but I can 
help you, weak as I am. I will give you a 
sword, and with that perhaps you may slay the 
beast; and a clew of silk, and by that perhaps 
you may find your way out again. Only prom¬ 
ise me, that if you escape safe, you will take 
me home with you to Greece; for my father 
will surely kill me, if he knows what I have 
done.” 

276 





How Theseus slew the Minotaur. 


Then Theseus laughed, and said, “Am I not 
safe enough now?” And he hid the sword in 
his bosom, and rolled up the clew in his hand ; 
and then he swore to Ariadne, and fell down 
before her, and kissed her hands and her feet; 
and she wept over him a long while, and then 
went away; and Theseus lay down and slept 
sweetly. 

And when, the morning came, the guards came 
in, and led him away to the labyrinth. 

And he went down into that doleful gulf, 
through winding paths among the rocks, under 
caverns, and arches, and galleries, and over heaps 
of fallen stone. And he turned on the left hand, 
and on the right hand, and went up and down, 
till his head was dizzy; but all the while he 
held his clew. For when he went in he had 
fastened it to a stone, and left it to unroll out 
of his hand as he went on ; and it lasted him 
till he met the Minotaur, in a narrow chasm 
between black cliffs. 

And when he saw him he stopped awhile, for 
he had never seen so strange a beast. His 
body was a man’s, but his head was the head 
2 77 










Golden Book of Tales. 

of a bull, and his teeth were the teeth of a 
lion; and with them he tore his prey. And 
when he saw Theseus he roared, and put his 
head down, and rushed right at him. 

But Theseus stepped aside nimbly, and, as he 
passed by, cut him in the knee ; and, ere he 
could turn in the narrow path, he followed him, 
and stabbed him again and again from behind, 
till the monster fled, bellowing wildly; for he 
never before had felt a wound. And Theseus 
followed him at full speed, holding the clew of 
silk in his left hand. 

Then on, through cavern after cavern, under 
dark ribs of sounding stone, and up rough glens 
and torrent-beds, and to the edge of the eternal 
snow, went they, the hunter and the hunted, 
while the hills bellowed to the monster’s bellow. 

And at last Theseus came up with him, where 
he lay panting on a slab among the snow, and 
caught him by the horns, and forced his head 
back, and drove the keen sword through his 
throat. 

Then he turned, and went back limping and 
weary, feeling his way down by the clew of silk, 

278 
















Golden Book of Tales. 

her the sword ; and she laid her finger on her 
lips, and led him to the prison, and opened the 
doors, and set all the prisoners free, while the 
guards lay sleeping heavily; for she had silenced 
them with wine. 

Then they fled to their ship together, and 
leaped on board, and hoisted up the sail; and 
the night lay dark around them, so that they 
passed through Minos’s ships, and escaped all 
safe to Naxos; and there Ariadne became 
Theseus’s wife. 

280 







THE BABY. 

HERE did you come from, baby dear? 
Out of the everywhere into the here. 

Where did you get your eyes so blue ? 
Out of the sky as I came through. 

What makes the light in them sparkle and 
spin ? 

Some of the starry spikes left in. 

Where did you get that little tear? 

I found it waiting when I got here. 

What makes your forehead so smooth and 
high ? 

A soft hand stroked it as I went by. 

281 

















Golden Book of Tales. 

What makes your cheek like a warm white 
rose ? 

Something better than any one knows. 

Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss ? 
Three angels gave me at once a kiss. 

Where did you get that pearly ear? 

God spoke, and it came out to hear. 

Where did you get those arms and hands ? 
Love made itself into hooks and bands. 

Feet, whence did you come, you darling 
things ? 

From the same box as the cherub’s wings. 

How did they all just come to be you ? 

God thought about me, and so I grew. 

But how did you come to us, you dear ? 

God thought of you , and so I am here. 

282 







A TALE OF THE SEA. 

OW carmine streaks tinged the east¬ 
ern sky at the waters edge, and that 
water blushed ; now the streaks turned 
orange, and the waves below them 
sparkled. Thence splashes of living 
gold flew and settled on the Agras 
white sails, the deck, and the faces ; 
and, with no more prologue, being so near the 
line, up came majestically a huge, fiery, golden 
sun, and set the sea flaming liquid topaz. 

Suddenly the lookout at the foretop-gallant 
mast-head hailed the deck below: — 

“ Strange sail ! Right ahead!” 

The strange sail was reported to Captain 
Dodd, then dressing in his cabin. He came 
soon after on deck, and hailed the lookout : 
“Which way is she standing?” 

283 






















Golden Book of Tales . 

“ Can’t say, sir. Can’t see her move any.” 

Dodd ordered the boatswain to pipe to break¬ 
fast, and taking his deck-glass went lightly up to 
the foretop-gallant cross-trees. There, through 
the light haze of a glorious morning, he espied 
a long low schooner, lateen-rigged, lying close 
under a small island about nine miles distant on 
the weather-bow, and nearly in the Agra's course. 

“ She is hove to,” said Dodd, very gravely. 

At eight o’clock the stranger lay about two 
miles to windward; and still hove to. 

By this time all eyes were turned upon her, 
and half a dozen glasses. Everybody, except 
the captain, delivered an opinion. She was a 
Greek lying to for water; she was a Malay 
coming north with canes, and short of hands ; 
she was a pirate watching the Straits.' 

The captain leaned silent and somber with 
his arms on the bulwarks, and watched the 
suspected craft. 

“ I think he is a Malay pirate,” said Mr. Grey. 

Sharpe took him up very quickly, and indeed 
angrily: “ Nonsense! And if he is, he won’t 
venture on a craft of this size.” 

284 





A Tale of the Sea. 

“ Says the whale to the sword-fish,” suggested 
Fullalove, with a little guttural laugh. 

The captain, with the glass at his eye, turned 
half round to the man at the wheel: “ Star¬ 
board ! ” 

“ Starboard it is.” 

“ Steer south-south-east.” 

“ Ay, ay, sir.” 

The alteration in the Agra's course produced 
no movement on the part of the mysterious 
schooner. She still lay to under the land, with 
only a few hands on deck, while the Agra 
edged away from her, and entered the Straits, 
leaving the schooner about two miles and a 
half distant to the north-west. 

Ah ! The strangers deck swarms black with 
men! 

His sham ports fall as if by magic, his guns 
grin through the gaps like black teeth; his 
huge foresail rises and fills, and out he comes 
in chase. 

The breeze was a kiss from heaven, the sky 
a vaulted sapphire, the sea a million dimples 
of liquid, lucid gold. 

285 






Golden Book of Tales. 

The way the pirate dropped the mask, showed 
his black teeth, and bore up in chase, was 
terrible. So dilates and bounds the sudden 
tiger on his unwary prey. There were stout 
hearts among the officers of the peaceable Agra; 
but danger in a new form shakes even the brave, 
and this was their first pirate. Their dismay 
broke out in ejaculations not loud, but deep. 
“Hush!” said Dodd, doggedly: “the lady!” 

Mrs. Beresford had just come on deck to 
enjoy the balmy morning. 

“ Sharpe,” said Dodd, in a tone that conveyed 
no suspicion to the new-comer, “ set the royals, 
and flying jib. —Port! ” 

“ Port it is,” cried the man at the helm. 

“Steer due south!” And, with these words 
in his mouth, Dodd dived to the gun-deck. 

The other officers stood gloomy and helpless, 
with their eyes glued, by a sort of somber 
fascination, on their coming fate; and they 
literally jumped when Mrs. Beresford, her heart 
opened by the lovely day, broke in on their 
nerves with her light treble. 

“ What a sweet morning, gentlemen! After 

286 





A Tale of the Sea. 


all, a voyage is a delightful thing; oh, what a 
splendid sea ! and the very breeze is warm. Ah, 
and there’s a little ship sailing along. Here, 
Freddy, Freddy darling, leave off beating the 
sailors’ legs, and come here and see this pretty 
ship. What a pity it is so far off! Ah ! ah ! 
what is that dreadful noise ? ” 

For her horrible small talk, that grated on 
those anxiou§ souls like the mockery of some 
infantine fiend, was cut short by ponderous blows 
and tremendous smashing below. It was the 
captain staving in water-casks ; the water poured 
out at the scuppers. 

“ Clearing the lee guns,” said a middy, off 
his guard. 

Mrs. Beresford had not heard, or not appre¬ 
ciated, the remark; she prattled on till she 
made the mates and midshipmen shudder. 

The day had brightened its beauty; beneath 
a purple heaven shone, sparkled, and laughed 
a ■ blue sea; and beneath that fair, sinless, 
peaceful sky, wafted by a balmy breeze over 
those smiling, transparent waves, a blood-thirsty 
pirate bore down on them with a crew of human 
287 













Golden Book of Tales. 

tigers; and a lady babble-babble-babble, babble- 
babble-babble, babbled in their quivering ears. 

But now the captain came bustling on deck, 
eyed the loftier sails, saw they were drawing 
well, appointed four midshipmen a staff to con¬ 
vey his orders; gave Bayliss charge of the 
carronades, Grey of the cutlasses, and directed 
Mr. Tickell to break the bad news gently to 
Mrs. Beresford, and to take her below to the 
orlop deck; ordered the purser to serve out 
beef, biscuit and grog to all hands; then beck¬ 
oned the officers to come round him. 

“ Gentlemen,” said he, “ in crowding sail on 
this ship, I had no hope of escaping that fellow 
on this tack, but I was, and am, most anxious 
to gain the open sea, where I can square my 
yards and run for it if I see a chance. At 
present I shall carry on till he comes up within 
range ; and then, to keep the company’s canvas 
from being shot to rags, I shall shorten sail ; 
and to save ship and cargo and all our lives,* I 
shall fight while a plank of her swims. Better 
be killed in hot blood than walk the plank in 
cold.” 

288 





A Tale of the Sea. 

The officers cheered faintly: the captains 
dogged resolution stirred up theirs. 

The pirate had gained another quarter of a 
mile and more. The ship’s crew were hard at 
their beef and grog, and agreed among them¬ 
selves that it was a comfortable ship ; they 
guessed what was coming, and woe to the ship 
in that hour if the captain had not won their 
respect! 

Sail was shortened, and the crew ranged. 
The captain came briskly on deck, saluted, 
jumped on a carronade, and stood erect. 

(Pipe.) “ Silence fore and aft.” 

“ My men, the schooner coming up on our 
weather quarter is a Portuguese pirate. His 
character is known : he scuttles every ship he 
boards, and murders the crew. We cracked on 
to get out of the narrows, and now we have 
shortened sail to fight this blackguard, and teach 
him not to molest a British ship. I promise, 
in the company’s name, twenty pounds prize- 
money to every man before the mast, if we 
beat him off or out-maneuver him ; thirty if we 
sink him ; and forty if we tow him astern into 

289 







Golden Book of Tales. 

a friendly port. Eight guns are clear below, 
three on the weather side, five on the lee; for, 
if he knows his business, he will come up on 
the lee quarter: if he doesn’t, that is no fault 
of yours or mine. The muskets are all loaded, 
the cutlasses ground like razors — ” 

“ Hurrah! ” 

“We have got women to defend — ” 

“ Hurrah! ” 

“ A good ship under our feet, the God of 
justice overhead, British hearts in our bosoms, 
and British colors flying — run ’em up! — over 
our heads.” (The ship’s colors flew up to the 
fore, and the Union Jack to the mizzen peak.) 
“ Now, lads, I mean to fight this ship while a 
plank of her ” (stamping on the deck) “ swims 
beneath my foot, and — what do you say?” 

The reply was a fierce “ hurrah! ” from a 
hundred throats, so loud, so deep, so full of 
volume, it made the ship vibrate, and rang 
in the creeping-on pirate’s ears. Fierce, but 
cunning, he saw mischief in those shortened 
sails, and that Union Jack, the terror of his 
tribe, rising to a British cheer. He lowered 

290 





A Tale of the Sea. 

his mainsail, and crawled up on the weather 
quarter. 

Arrived within a cable’s length, he double- 
reefed his foresail to reduce his rate of sailing 
nearly to that of the ship ; and the next moment 
a tongue of flame and then a gush of smoke 
issued from his lee bow, and the ball flew 
screaming like a sea-gull over the Agra's 
mizzen-top. He then put his helm up, and 
fired his other bow-chaser, and sent the shot 
hissing and skipping on the water past the ship. 
This prologue made the novices wince. Bayliss 
wanted to reply with a carronade; but Dodd 
forbade him sternly, saying, “ If we keep him 
aloof we are done for.” 

The pirate drew nearer, and, firing two guns 
in succession, hulled the Agra amidships, and 
sent an eighteen-pound ball through her fore¬ 
sail. Most of the faces were pale on the quar¬ 
ter-deck. It was very trying to be shot at, and 
hit, and make no return. The next double dis¬ 
charge sent one shot smash through the stern 
cabin window, and splintered the bulwark with 
another, wounding a seaman slightly. 

291 







Golden Book of Tales. 

“ Lie down forward ! ” shouted Dodd through 
his trumpet. “ Bayliss, give him a shot.” 

The carronade was fired with a tremendous 
report, but no visible effect. The pirate crept 
nearer, steering in and out like a snake to 
avoid the carronades, and firing two heavy 
guns alternately, into the devoted ship. He 
hulled the Agra now nearly every shot. 

The two available carronades replied noisily, 
and jumped as usual; they sent one thirty-two- 
pound shot clean through the schooner’s deck 
and side; but that was literally all they did 
worth speaking of. 

At the next discharge the pirate chipped the 
mizzen-mast, and killed a sailor on the fore¬ 
castle. Dodd put his helm down ere the smoke 
cleared, and got three carronades to bear, heav¬ 
ily laden with grape. Several pirates fell, dead 
or wounded, on the crowded deck, and some 
holes appeared in the foresail. This one inter¬ 
change was quite in favor of the ship. 

But the lesson made the enemy more cau¬ 
tious. He crept nearer, but steered so adroit¬ 
ly, now right astern, now on the quarter, that 

292 





A Tale of the Sea. 

the ship could seldom bring more than one 
carronade to bear, while he raked her fore and 
aft with grape and ball. 

In this alarming situation, Dodd kept as 
many of the men below as possible ; but, do 
all he could, four were killed and seven 
wounded. 

Fullalove’s word came too true : it was the. 
sword-fish and the whale : it was a fight of 
hammer and anvil ; one pounded, the other 
made a noise. Cautious and cruel, the pirate 
hung on the poor hulking creature’s quarters, 
and raked her at point-blank distance. He 
made her pass a bitter time. And her cap¬ 
tain ! To see the splintering hull, the parting 
shrouds, the shivered gear, and hear the shrieks 
and groans of his wounded ; and he unable to 
reply in kind! The sweat of agony poured 
down his face. Oh, if he could but reach the 
open sea, and square his yards, and make a 
long chase of it, perhaps fall in with aid! 
Wincing under each heavy blow, he crept 
doggedly, patiently on, toward that one visible 
hope. 

293 





Golden Book of Tales . 

At last, when the ship was cloved with shot, 
and peppered with grape, the channel opened ; 
in five minutes more he could put her dead 
before the wind. 

No. The pirate, on whose side luck had been 
from the first, got half a broadside to bear at 
long musket shot, killed a midshipman by 

Dodd’s side, cut away two of the Agra's mizzen 
shrouds, wounded the gaff, and cut the jib-stay. 
Down fell that powerful sail into the water, 
and dragged across the ship’s forefoot, stop¬ 
ping her way to the open sea she panted for. 

The mates groaned, the crew cheered stoutly, 

as British tars do in any great disaster; the 
pirates yelled with ferocious triumph. 

But most human events, even calamities, have 
two sides. The Agra being brought almost to 
a stand-still, the pirate forged ahead against his 
will, and the combat took a new and terrible 
form. A rifle cracked in the Agra's mizzen- 
top, and the man at the pirate’s helm jumped 
into the air and fell dead. Then the three 
carronades peppered him hotly ; and he hurled 
an iron shower back with fatal effect. Then at 

294 





A Tale of the Sea. 


last the long eighteen-pounders on the gun- 
deck got a word in. Monk was not the man 
to miss a vessel alongside in a quiet sea. He 
sent two round shot clean through him ; the 
third splintered his bulwark, and swept across 
his deck. 

“His masts ! fire at his masts ! ” roared Dodd 
to Monk, through his trumpet. He then got 
the jib clear, and made what sail he could with¬ 
out taking all the hands from the guns. 

This kept the vessels nearly alongside a few 
minutes, and the fight was hot as fire. The 
pirate now for the first time hoisted his flag. 
It was black as ink. His crew yelled as it 
rose : the Britons, instead of quailing, cheered 
with fierce derision. The pirate’s wild crew of 
yellow Malays, black, chinless Papuans, and 
bronzed Portuguese, served their side-guns, 
twelve-pounders, well, and with ferocious cries. 

The white Britons, naked to the waist, 
grimed with powder, and spotted like leopards 
with blood, their own and their mates’, replied 
with loud, undaunted cheers, and deadly hail 
of grape from the quarter-deck. The master- 
295 









Golden Book of Tales. 

gunner and his mates, loading with a rapidity 
the mixed races opposed could not rival, hulled 
the schooner well between wind and water, and 
then fired chain-shot at her masts, as ordered, 
and began to play the mischief with her shrouds 
and rigging. 

The pirate, bold as he was, got sick erf fair 
fighting first. He hoisted his mainsail, and drew 
rapidly ahead, with a slight bearing to wind¬ 
ward, and dismounted a carronade and stove in 
the ship’s quarter-boat, by a parting shot. 

The men hurled a contemptuous cheer after 
him ; they thought they had beaten him off. 
But Dodd knew better. He was but retiring a 
little way to make a more deadly attack than 
ever. He would soon wear, and cross the 
Agra's defenseless bows, to rake her fore and 
aft at pistol-shot distance, or grapple and board 
the enfeebled ship, two hundred strong. 

Dodd flew to the helm, and with his own 
hands put it hard a-weather, to give the deck- 
guns one more chance, the last, of sinking or dis¬ 
abling the destroyer. As the ship obeyed, and 
a deck-gun bellowed below him, he saw a ves- 

296 





A Tale of the Sea. 

sel running out from the island, and coming 
swiftly up on his lee quarter. 

It was a schooner; was she coming to his aid ? 

Horror ! A black flag floated from her fore¬ 
mast head. 

While Dodd’s eyes were staring almost out 
of his head at this death-blow to hope, Monk 
fired again ; and just then a pale face came 
close to Dodd’s, and a solemn voice whispered 
in his ear, “ Our ammunition is nearly done!" 
It was the first mate. 

Dodd seized his hand convulsively, pointed 
to the pirate’s consort coming up to finish 
them, and said, with the calm of a brave man’s 
despair, “ Cutlasses ! and die hard ! ” 

At that moment the master-gunner fired his 
last gun. It sent a chain-shot on board the 
retiring pirate, took off a Portuguese head and 
spun it into the sea far to windward, and cut 
the schooner’s foremast so nearly through that 
it trembled and nodded, and presently snapped 
with a loud crack, and came down like a broken 
tree, with yard and sail, black flag and all. 
There, in one moment, lay the destroyer buffet- 

297 






Golden Book of Tales . 

ing and wriggling — like a heron on the water 
with his long wing broken — an utter cripple. 
The victorious crew raised a stunning cheer. 
“ Silence ! ” roared Dodd, with his trumpet. 
“ All hands make sail! ” 

He set his courses, bent a new jib, and stood 
out to windward close-hauled, in hopes to make 
a good offing, and then put his ship dead 
before the wind, which was now rising to a 
stiff breeze. In doing this he crossed the 
crippled pirate’s stern within eighty yards ; and 
sore was the temptation to rake him. But his 
ammunition being short, and his danger being 
imminent from the other pirate, he had the 
self-command to resist the great temptation. 

The situation of the merchant vessel, though 
not so utterly desperate as before Monk fired 
his lucky shot, was pitiable enough. If she 
ran before the wind, the fresh pirate would cut 
her off: if she lay to windward, she might 
postpone the inevitable and fatal collision, but 
this would give the crippled pirate time to re¬ 
fit, and unite to destroy her. Add to this the 
failing ammunition and the thinned crew! 

298 








A Tale of the Sea . 


Dodd cast his eyes all round the horizon for 
help. 

The sea was blank. 

The bright sun was hidden now; drops of 
rain fell, and the wind was beginning to sing, 
and the sea to rise a little. 

“ Sharpe,” said he, at last, “ there must be a 
way out with such a breeze as this is now : if 
we could but see it! ” 

“ Ay, if” groaned Sharpe. 

Dodd mused again. 

“ About ship! ” said he, softly, like an absent 
man, 

“ Ay, ay, sir.” 

“Steer due north!” said he, still like one 
whose mind was elsewhere. 

While the ship was coming about, he gave 
minute orders to the mates and the gunner, to 
insure co-operation in the first part of a deli¬ 
cate and dangerous maneuver he had resolved 
to try. 

The wind was west-north-west; he was stand¬ 
ing north : one pirate lay on his lee beam 
stopping a leak between wind and water, and 

299 









Golden Book of Tales . 

hacking the deck clear of his broken masts and 
yards. The other, fresh and thirsting for the 
easy prey, came up from the north-east, to 
weather on him and hang on his quarter, pirate- 
fashion. 

When they were distant about a cable’s 
length, the fresh pirate, to meet the ship’s 
change of tactics, changed his own, put his 
helm up a little, and gave the ship a broadside. 

Dodd, instead of replying, as was expected, 
took advantage of the smoke, and put his ship 
before the wind. By this unexpected stroke, 
the vessels ran swiftly at right angles toward 
one point, and the pirate saw himself menaced 
with two serious perils: a collision, which might 
send him to the bottom of the sea in a minute, 
or a broadside delivered at pistol-shot distance, 
and with no possibility of his making a return. 
He must either put his helm up or down. 

He chose the bolder course, put his helm 
hard-a-lee, and stood ready to give broadside 
for broadside.. But ere he could bring his lee 
guns to bear, he must offer his bow for one 
moment to the ship’s broadside; and, in that 

300 





A Tale of the Sea. 

moment, which Dodd had provided for, Monk 
and his mates raked him fore and aft at short 
distance with all the five guns that were clear 
on that side. The carronades followed, and 
mowed him slantwise with grape and canister. 
Loud shrieks and groans were heard from the 
schooner ; the smoke cleared; the pirate’s main¬ 
sail hung on deck, his jib-boom was cut off like 
a carrot, and the sail struggling; his foresail 
hung in ribbons; dead and wounded lay still 
or writhing on his deck, and his lee scuppers 
ran blood into the sea. 

The ship rushed down the wind, leaving the 
schooner staggered, and all abroad. But not 
for long; the pirate fired his broadside after 
all, at the now flying Agra , split one of the 
carronades in two, and killed a Lascar, and 
made a hole in the foresail. This done, he 
hoisted his mainsail again in a trice, sent his 
wounded below, flung his dead overboard, and 
came after the flying ship, yawing and firing 
his bow-chasers. The ship was silent. She had 
no shot to throw away. Not only did she take 
these blows like a coward, but all signs of life 

301 






Golden Book of Tales . 

disappeared on her, except two men at the 
wheel, and the captain on the main gangway. 

Dodd had ordered the crew out of the rigging, 
armed them with cutlasses, and laid them flat 
on the forecastle. 

The great, patient ship ran environed by her 
foes, one destroyer right in her course, another in 
her wake, following her with yells of vengeance, 
and pounding away at her — but no reply. 

Suddenly the yells of the pirates on both 
sides ceased, and there was a moment of dead 
silence on the sea. 

Yet nothing fresh had happened. 

Yes, this had happened « the pirates to wind¬ 
ward and the pirates to leeward of the Agra 
had found out, at one and the same moment, 
that the merchant captain they had lashed and 
bullied and tortured was a patient but tremen¬ 
dous man. It was not only to rake the fresh 
schooner that he had put his ship before the 
wind, but also by a double, daring master-stroke, 
to hurl his monster ship bodily on the pirate’s 
crippled consort. Without a foresail, the latter 
could never get out of his way. Her crew had 

302 





A Tale of the Sea. 


stopped the leak, had cut away and unshipped 
the broken foremast, and were stepping a new 
one, when they saw the huge ship bearing down 
in full sail. Nothing easier than to slip out of 
her way, could they get the foresail to draw; 
but the time was short, the deadly intention 
manifest, the coming destruction swift. 

After that solemn silence came a storm of 
cries and curses, as their seamen went to work 
to fit the yard and raise the sail; while their 
fighting men seized their matchlocks and trained 
the guns. They were well commanded by a 
heroic, able villain. Astern, the consort thun¬ 
dered ; but the Agras response was a dead 
silence more awful than broadsides. 

For then was seen with what majesty the 
enduring Anglo-Saxon fights. 

One of that indomitable race on the gangway, 
one at the foremast, two at the wheel, steered 
the great ship down on a hundred matchlocks 
and a grinning broadside, just as they would 
have steered her into a British harbor. 

“ Starboard ! ” said Dodd, in a deep, calm 
voice, with a motion of his hand. 

303 









Golden Book of Tales . 

“ Starboard it is.” 

The pirate wriggled ahead a little. The man 
forward made a silent signal to Dodd. 

“ Port! ” said Dodd, quietly. 

“ Port it is.” 

But at this critical moment the pirate astern 
sent a mischievous shot, and knocked one of 
the men to atoms at the helm. 

Dodd waved his hand without a word ; another 
man rose from the deck, and took his place in 
silence, laying bis unshaking hand on the wheel 
stained with the warm blood of him whose post 
he took. 

The high ship was now scarce sixty yards 
distant; she seemed to know: she reared her 
lofty figure-head with great awful shoots into 
the air. 

But now the panting pirates got their new 
foresail hoisted with a joyful shout; it drew, 
the schooner gathered way, and their furious 
consort, close on the Agra s heels, just then 
scourged her deck with grape. 

“ Port! ” said Dodd, calmly. 

“ Port it is.” 

304 





A Tale of the Sea. 

The giant prow darted at the escaping pirate. 
That acre of coming canvas took the wind out 
of the swift schooner’s foresail; it flapped: oh, 
then she was doomed! That awful moment 
parted the races on board her. The Papuans 
and Zulus, their black faces livid and blue with 
horror, leaped yelling into the sea, or crouched 
and whimpered. The yellow Malays and brown 
Portuguese, though blanched to one color now, 
turned on death like dying panthers, fired two 
cannon slap into the ship’s bows, and snapped 
their muskets and matchlocks at their solitary 
executioner on the ship’s gangway. Crash ! the 
Agra's cut-water, in thick smoke, beat in the 
schooner’s broadside. 

Down went her masts to leeward, like fishing- 
rods whipping the water ; there was a horrible, 
shrieking yell; wild forms leaped off on the 
Agra , and were hacked to pieces almost ere 
they reached the deck; a surge, a chasm in 
the sea, filled with an instant rush of ingulfing 
waves, a long, awful, grating, grinding noise, 
never to be forgotten in this world, all along 
under the ship’s keel — and the fearful majestic 
3°5 






Golden Book of Tales . 


monster passed on over the blank she had made, 
with a pale crew standing silent and awe-struck 
on her deck ; a cluster of wild heads and staring 

3°6 















A Tale of the Sea. 

eyeballs bobbing like corks in her foaming wake, 
sole relic of the blotted-out destroyer; and a 
wounded man staggering on the gangway with 
hands uplifted and staring eyes. 

Shot in two places — the head and the 
breast. 

With a loud cry of pity and dismay, Sharpe, 
Fullalove, and others rushed to catch him ; but, 
ere they got near, the captain of the triumphant 
ship fell down on his hands and knees, his head 
sunk over the gangway, and his blood ran fast 
and pattered in the midst of them, on the deck 
he had defended so bravely. 

They got to their wounded leader, and raised 
him; he revived a little; and, the moment he 
caught sight of Mr. Sharpe, he clutched him, 
and cried, “ Stunsels ! ” 

“ Oh, captain! ” said Sharpe, “ let the ship 
go : it is you we are anxious for now.” 

At this Dodd lifted up his hands, and beat 
the air impatiently, and cried again in the thin, 
querulous voice of a wounded man, but eagerly, 
“ Stunsels ! stunsels ! ” 

On this, Sharpe gave the command : “ Set to- 
307 





Golden Book of Tales. 

gallant stunsels! All hands set stunsels ’low 
and aloft.” 

While the unwounded hands swarmed into 
the rigging, the surgeon came aft in all haste ; 
but Dodd declined him till all his men should 
have been looked to. Meantime he had himself 
laid on a mattress, his bleeding head bound tight 
with a wet cambric handkerchief, and his pale 
face turned toward the hostile schooner astern. 
She had hove to, and was picking up the sur¬ 
vivors of her blotted-out consort. The group 
on the Agra's quarter-deck watched her to see 
what she would do next. Flushed with imme¬ 
diate success, the younger officers crowed their 
fears she would not be game to attack them 
again. 

Dodd’s fears ran the other way. He said, 
in the weak voice to which he was now re¬ 
duced, “ They are taking a wet blanket aboard ; 
that crew of blackguards we swamped won’t 
want any more of us: it all depends on the 
pirate captain ; if he is not drowned, then blow 
wind, rise sea: or there’s trouble ahead for us.” 

As soon as the schooner had picked up the 

308 





A Tale of the Sea. 

last swimmer, she hoisted foresail, mainsail, and 
jib, with admirable rapidity, and bore down in 
chase. 

The Agra had meantime got a start of more 
than a mile, and was now running before a stiff 
breeze, with studding sails alow and aloft. 

In an hour the vessels ran nearly twelve 
miles, and the pirate had gained half a mile. 

At the end of the next hour they were out 
of sight of land ; wind and sea rising ; and the 
pirate only a quarter of a mile astern. 

The schooner was now rising and falling on 
the waves ; the ship only nodding, and firm as 
a rock. 

“ Blow wind, rise sea ! ” faltered Dodd. 

Another half-hour passed without perceptibly 
altering the position of the vessels. Then sud¬ 
denly the wounded captain laid aside his glass, 
after a long examination, and rose unaided to 
his feet in great excitement, and found his 
manly voice for a moment ; he shook his fist 
at the now pitching schooner, and roared, 
“ Good-by! ye Portuguese lubber: out-fought 
— out-maneuvered — and out-sailed ! ” 

309 






THE PASSAGE. 

ANY a year is in its grave 
Since I crossed this restless wave; 
And the evening, bright as ever, 
Shines on ruin, rock, and river. 

Then in this same boat beside 
Sat two comrades old and tried; 
One with all a father’s truth, 

One with all the fire of youth. 

One on earth in silence wrought, 

And his grave in silence sought; 

But the younger, brighter form 
Passed in battle and in storm. 

So whene’er I turn my eye 
Back upon the days gone by, 



310 
















The Passage . 


Saddening thoughts of friends come o’er me — 
Friends who closed their course before me. 

But what binds us, friend to friend, 

But that soul with soul can blend ? 

Soul-like were those days of yore — 

Let us walk in soul once more. 

Take, O boatman, thrice thy fee; 

Take, I give it willingly; 

For, invisible to thee, 

Spirits twain have crossed with me. 








THE ABBOT AND THE EMPEROR. 



HERE was once 
an abbot, whose 
jolly face, round 
as the moon, and 
great paunch like 
a beer-barrel, 
proclaimed at the 
first glance that 
he took the world 
more easily than 
most of us can 
afford to do. 
The lands of his abbey were rich, and his duties 
did not trouble him much from one rent-day to 
another. As he seldom opened his lips except 
at meal-times, he passed for a man of profound 
learning. Certainly there could be no better 
judge of a flagon of wine or a venison pasty. 


312 


























The Abbot and the Emperor . 

Almost all his time was spent in eating, drinking, 
and sleeping; and he grew lazier and fatter from 
year to year, till, on an ill day for his peace of 
mind, the emperor heard of him, and proposed 
to have a little diversion at his expense. 

“ Ha, holy father! prayer and fasting seem to 
agree with you,” he said, when the abbot, in 
obedience to his summons, came puffing and 
waddling into the imperial presence. “The fact 
is, you are so full of knowledge, and have so 
much spare time on your hands, that I have sent 
for you to help us with an answer to three 
questions which may well puzzle a simple soldier 
like me.” 

“ My humble talents are not likely to be of 
much avail where your Majesty’s wisdom is at 
fault,” mumbled the abbot, somewhat taken aback 
when he found he was wanted to give informa¬ 
tion, and not to get a fat bishopric, or some other 
mark of favor. 

“ Come, man, don’t be modest. Everybody says 
you are so clever that there is nobody like you. 
So sharpen your wits, and set to work at the 
three nuts which you must crack for me. 

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Golden Book of Tales. 

“ First — How deep is the sea ? 

“ Second — How long would it take me to ride 
round the world ? 

“ Third — How far is the sky from the earth ? ” 

Great drops ran down the abbot’s fat cheeks as 
he heard these questions, and had not the least 
notion what to reply to them. He stammered 
out that he must have time. 

“By all means,” said the emperor. “This day 
three weeks you bring me the right answers, and 
show that you are the man I took you for. Else, 
out you pack from your abbey; and, instead of 
that ambling mule, you shall ride through the 
land upon an ass with your face to the tail, that 
all men may beware of pretending to wisdom.” 

In sore dismay the abbot withdrew, and, as 
soon as he had hoisted himself on his mule, made 
haste to be off. How he got home he scarcely 
knew. He arrived just as the dinner came on 
the table; but, to the amazement of the brethren, 
refused, for the first time in his life, to taste bite 
or sup, and went straight to bed, quaking and 
groaning as if his last hour were at hand. 

“ Solomon himself, and Socrates into the bar- 
314 






The Abbot and the Emperor. 

gain, could not answer such questions,” was the 
burden of his complaint, as he lay tossing all 
night from side to side without the least light 
dawning upon his perplexed mind. 

And now, for the next three weeks, what man 
in all the world more miserable than our once 
jolly abbot? Sleep, appetite, peace, deserted him. 
H is brow became wrinkled ; his cheeks began to 
fall in. Again and again he turned over the 
emperor’s questions in his mind; but, the more 
he racked his brains, the more he found himself 
at a loss. He asked the advice of his brethren, 
who only crossed themselves in pious horror, 
declaring that it was not for churchmen to explore 
the mysteries of nature. He sent to all the 
learned men around, and they, indeed, supplied 
him with answers enough ; but no two of them 
agreed: for in those days the sciences of astron- 
omy, geology, geography, and so forth, were only 
other names for guessing. Then he gave up 
trying to hit upon the truth, and thought of 
nothing, night and day, but the degradation 
which awaited him when he should have to 
confess his ignorance before the emperor. 

3*5 





Golden Book of Tales. 


The days and nights slipped away, and the 
abbot grew thin and thinner; nor was it any 
comfort for him to reflect that this would be all 
the better for the donkey on which he was to 
take his shameful ride. He grew thin enough 
to do what he had not done for many a day, — to 
walk, — and took to wandering about in solitary 
places, hiding himself and his trouble from the 
sight of man, or perhaps hoping, among trees 
and rocks, to stumble over the answers which he 
could not find in all his books. 

The last of his days of grace had come ; and in 
the evening he was walking along an unfre¬ 
quented path, with his eyes bent on the ground, 
the picture of woe, when he had almost run into 
the arms of an honest rustic who worked the 
abbey mill. Seeing it was the abbot, this simple- 
minded fellow stepped aside to let him pass; 
then, as he wished him good evening, was moved 
to say, — 

“ Might a man be so bold as to ask what ails 
his lordship? Your Reverence is wasting away 
to a shadow.” 

“ And well I may,” sighed the poor abbot. 

316 







The Abbot and the Emperor . 

“This is the last day that you see me as your 
lord. To-morrow I must appear before the 
emperor to answer him three questions : ist, 
How deep is the sea? 2d, How long it would 
take him to ride round the world ? 3d, How far 

is the sky from the earth ? How can I read such 
riddles ? And, if I fail, I am to be turned out of 
my abbey, and set to ride upon — oh ! I can not 
bear to think of it.” 

The miller scratched his head, and thought for 
a minute. 

“ If that’s all the matter, my lord, keep up your 
heart, and take my advice,” he said. “You stay 
at home to-morrow, and leave it to me to settle 
with the emperor.” 

“You!” exclaimed the abbot, smiling in spite 
of his cares. 

“ Why not ? I can’t read or write ; but I have 
some mother-wit of my own, that may hit the 
mark when all your book-craft makes a miss of it. 
Only lend me your gown and hood to wear before 
the emperor, and you shall call me an ass if I 
don’t crack his nuts for him, hard as they are. 

The man spoke with so much confidence that 
317 






Golden Book of Tales . 

the poor abbot caught at his offer as the last 
straw of hope. So next day the worthy miller 
dressed himself in the abbot’s clothes, shaving 
off his beard, and drawing the cowl closely over 
his face ; and thus disguised he took his way to 
the court. 

“ In good time, master monk ! ” was the greet¬ 
ing of the emperor from the throne where he 
sat, surrounded by his lords and knights. “ See 
what a goodly company is waiting to have a taste 
of your wisdom ! Come ! the first question : 
How deep is the sea ? ” 

“That’s easily told,” said the mock-abbot, imi¬ 
tating, as well as he could, the voice of his master. 
“The sea is everywhere just a stone’s throw 
deep.” 

“ Ha! you have hit it there,” chuckled the 
emperor, reflecting that a stone thrown into the 
sea would not stop till it reached the bottom. 

“Now for the second,” said he: “ How long, 
think you, would it take for me to ride round the 
world ? ” 

“ That depends on how fast you went. But, if 
your Majesty were to mount at sunrise, and keep 
318 







The Abbot and the Emperor . 


up with the course of the sun, I believe you 
would do it in twenty-four hours.” 

“Well, that will pass, though we are not much 
the wiser. But now the third question : How far 


do you make it from the earth to the sky ? Let 
us have it to an inch ; no ifs and ands this time.” 
“ It is exactly one hundred and twenty-nine 
3 r 9 










Golden Book of Tales . 

thousand five hundred and eighty-two miles, six 
furlongs, one rood, three yards, eleven inches and 
three-quarters.” 

“And, pray, how do you make that out?” 
cried the emperor in surprise. 

“Will your Majesty have it measured?” said 
the miller-turned-abbot. “ I am content to lose 
my head if I be found to have made the least 
mistake.” 

The emperor burst into a loud laugh. 

“ Come ! you are a smarter fellow than I 
thought you. I daresay you are clever enough 
to read my very thoughts. Tell me truly, now, 
what I am thinking, and you shall have any boon 
you choose to ask.” 

“I can tell you truly what you are thinking; 
but then I shall not be telling the truth.” 

“ How?” cried the emperor; and all his cour¬ 
tiers turned up the whites of their eyes as if 
calling heaven and earth to witness that their 
gracious master was accused of entertaining false¬ 
hood. 

“ Your Majesty thinks I am the abbot; but I am 
only his poor miller, glad to be able to help him 

320 





The Abbot and the Emperor. 

at a pinch.” With this the rustic flung off his 
cowl and gown, and knelt at the emperor’s feet, 
begging his pardon for the trick that had been 
played upon him. 

The emperor did not know whether to be 
angry or amused. At last he gave way to merri¬ 
ment, in which all present joined when he set the 
example. 

“ There’s many a reverend churchman has 
duller wits,” he vowed. “ From henceforth, my 
friend, you shall be the abbot, and your fat lord 
shall grind at the mill.” 

“ Nay, I am too old to learn a new trade,” said 
the miller. “ If your Majesty means me well, 
leave me to my mill, and let his lordship stick to 
the Latin. You promised me a boon: I ask 
nothing but grace for my master.” 

“ Thou art a good fellow, and so shall it be,” 
declared the emperor. 

The miller was kept to dinner, and right royally 
entertained among the greatest of the land; then 
was sent home with a message to the abbot that 
he had nothing now to fear. And a glad man 
was the abbot when he heard how it had fared 

321 






Golden Book of Tales. 

with his deputy. Yet he took the lesson to 
heart, and from that day applied himself less to 
the comforts and more to the duties of his high 
station. Burying himself in his books, he became 
so really learned as to be able to spend his old 
age in writing a famous treatise, which proves, 
beyond dispute, that two and two make four, that 
the half is not so great as the whole, and that 
every man’s life must some day come to an end. 

322 








THE BREAD OF DISCONTENT. 

there was a baker who had a very 
bad, violent temper; and, whenever a 
batch of bread was spoiled, he flew 
into such a rage, that his wife and 
daughters dared not go near him. 
One day it happened that all his 
bread was burnt, and on this he stamped and 
raved with anger. He threw the loaves all about 
the floor, when one, burnt blacker than the rest, 
broke in half; and out of it crept a tiny, thin, 
black man, no thicker than an eel, with long 
arms and legs. 

“ What are you making all this fuss about, 
Master Baker?” said he. “If you will give me 
a home in your oven, I will see to the baking of 
your bread, and will answer for it that you shall 
never have so much as a loaf spoiled.” 

“ And pray what sort of bread would it be if 
323 











Golden Book of Tales. 

you were in the oven, and helped to bake it ? ” 
said the baker. “ I think my customers might 
not like to eat it.” 

“ On the contrary,” said the imp, “ they would 
like it exceedingly. It is true that it would 
make them rather unhappy; but that will not 
hurt you, as you need not eat it yourself.” 

“Why should it make them unhappy?” said 
the baker. “ If it is good bread it won’t do 
any one harm, and if it is bad they won’t buy 
it.” 

“ It will taste very good,” replied the imp; 
“but it will make all who eat it discontented, 
and they will think themselves very unfortunate, 
whether they are so or no. But this will not do 
you any harm, and I promise you that you shall 
sell as much as you wish.” 

“Agreed!” said the baker. So the little imp 
crept into the oven, and curled himself into the 
darkness behind ; and the baker saw no more of 
him. 

But next day he made a great batch of bread ; 
and though he took no heed of the time when 
he put it in, and drew it out just as he wanted 
324 













































































































































































Golden Book of Tales . 

it, it was done quite right, — neither too dark 
nor too light; and the baker was in high good 
humor. 

The first person who tasted the bread was the 
chief justice. He came down to breakfast in 
high spirits ; for he had just heard that an old 
aunt was dead, and had left him a great deal of 
money. So he kissed his wife and chucked his 
daughters under the chin, and told them that he 
had good news for them : his old aunt had left 
him twenty thousand pounds in her will. On 
this his wife clapped her hands for joy; and 
his daughters ran to him and kissed him, and 
begged him to let them have some of it. So 
they all sat down to breakfast in great glee ; but 
no sooner had the justice tasted the bread than 
his face fell. 

“This is excellent bread,” he said, taking a 
large slice: “ I wish every thing else were as 
good.” And he heaved a deep sigh. 

“Why?” cried his wife, who had not yet be¬ 
gun to eat. “This morning, I am sure, there 
is nothing for you to complain of.” 

“ Nay,” said the mayor: “ it is very nice to 

326 




The Bread of Discontent . 

have twenty thousand pounds; but think how 
much nicer it would have been if it had been 
thirty, — how much more one could have done 
with that! — or even if it had been twenty-five 
thousand pounds, or even twenty-one ! Twenty- 
one thousand pounds is a very nice sum of 
money; but twenty thousand pounds is no good 
at all. I am not sure that it would not be bet¬ 
ter not to have had any.” 

“ Nonsense ! ” cried his wife, who was now eat¬ 
ing her breakfast also. “You are very wicked 
to be so discontented; but one thing I do say: 
it would have been much nicer if we had had it 
when we were young and better able to enjoy 
it. Money is very little use to people at our 
time of life. It would have been really nice if 
we had had it fifteen years ago. As it is, I can’t 
say I care much for it; and it makes me sad to 
think we did not get it before.” 

“ Nay,” cried the daughters: “ in that case 

how much better it would have been for us to 
have it instead of you. We are young, and able 
to enjoy ourselves; and we could have given you 
a little of it if you’d liked: but we could have 

3 2 7 





Golden Book of Tales. 

been very happy with the rest. As it is, it is 
no pleasure to us.” 

So they fell to quarreling about the money; 
and, by the time breakfast was done, they all 
had tears in their eyes, and felt discontented 
and unhappy. 

The next person to eat the bread was the vil¬ 
lage doctor. All night long he had been sitting 
up with a man who had broken his leg, and he 
had feared lest he should die ; but, as morning 
came, he saw he would live: so he returned 
home to his wife in very good spirits, although 
he was sadly tired. The wife had already had 
her breakfast; but she had made all ready for 
her husband with a loaf of the baker’s new 
bread. 

“ See, dear husband,” she said, “ here is your 
breakfast, and some nice bread quite new, be¬ 
cause I know you like it. How glad we ought 
to be that this poor man is likely to live! ” 

“Yes, indeed,” said the doctor. “ Being up all 
night is tiring work; but I don’t grudge it when 
I know that it does some good.” And then he 
began to eat. “ I am not sure, after all, that I 

328 





The Bread of Discontent . 

have done such a good thing in curing this man. 
It is true that his broken leg hurt him very 
much; but, perhaps, when he is well again, he 
may break his back, and that would be much 
worse. Perhaps I had better have left him to 
die. I daresay when he is quite well all kinds 
of misfortunes will befall him : I had much bet¬ 
ter have let him alone.” 

“Why,” cried his wife in surprise, “what are 
you saying, husband ? Are you not a doctor, 
and is it not your business to cure people ? 
And, when you succeed, ought you not to be 
glad ?” 

“ I wish I were not a doctor,” said the hus¬ 
band, sighing. “ It would be much better if 
there were no doctors at all.” And he sat and 
lamented, and nothing his wife could say could 
cheer him. 

In a pretty little cottage near the doctor’s 
house lived a young couple, who were newly 
married, and were as happy as the day was long. 
Their cottage was covered with roses, and filled 
with pretty things; and they had every thing 
their hearts could desire. This morning they 
3 2 9 





Golden Book of Tales. 

both came down smiling and happy; and the 
young wife kissed her husband, and sang for joy. 
So they sat down to breakfast, chattering like 
two birds in a nest; but no sooner had the hus¬ 
band tasted the bread than his face fell, and he 
was silent for a time. Then he said, — 

“ It is a very terrible thing to think how happy 
we are ; for it can not last. Something melan¬ 
choly is sure to happen to us, and till it comes 
we shall live in dread of it; for we know happi¬ 
ness never lasts, and this is a thought that makes 
me very sad.” 

The wife had now also taken some bread. 

“What is this you are saying?” she said. 
“How can you think such dreadful things? I 
do not like you when you talk like that; and 
I think it is very hard for me to be married to 
a man who wants to be unhappy.” 

“ The best thing we can hope for,” said the 
husband, sighing, “ is for some great misfortune 
to befall us. Then we should be all right; for 
we should know then that we knew the worst 
that could come. As it is, we shall live in sus¬ 
pense all our days.” 

330 





The Bread of Discontent . 

“ Now,” cried his wife, “ I am indeed unfortu¬ 
nate. What could be worse than to have a hus¬ 
band who does not like being' happy? I wish I 
had married some one else, or, indeed, had no 
husband at all.” 

So both began to grumble, and at last to 
quarrel; and finally both were crying with anger. 

Not far out of the village was a large, pleas¬ 
ant farmhouse, standing amongst fields; and the 
farmer was a hale, bright man, with a good wife 
and pretty children. He was very busy just now 
getting in the corn ; for it was autumn : and he 
stood among his men, directing them as they 
worked in the fields. He had not had time to 
have a proper breakfast before going to work ; 
but his wife sent some out to him with some of 
the baker’s new bread, and he sat down under a 
tree to eat it. As he did so he looked up at the 
farmhouse, and thought, with pride, that it was 
the largest farm in all the country round, and 
that it had belonged to his father and his grand¬ 
father and his great-grandfather before him. 

“ Tis a fine old house, for sure,” thought he, 
as he took a large piece of bread, “ ’tis so well 
331 







Golden Book of Tales . 

built and strong.” But no sooner had he swal¬ 
lowed a mouthful than his thoughts changed. 

“What should I do if it were to fall down and 
crush me some day?” he said to himself. “ After 
all, ’tis only built of brick, and might tumble any 
day. How much stronger it would have been if 
it had been built of stone! Then it would not 
have been nearly so likely to give way. Really, 
when my great-grandfather built it he should 
have thought of this. How selfish all men are ! ” 
And he became quite unhappy lest his house 
should fall, and lamented while he ate. 

In the kitchen the farmer’s wife was very busy 
cooking and cleaning, and scarcely stopped to 
eat till near mid-day. Then she took up a piece 
of bread and cheese, and leant against the win¬ 
dow as she ate it, that she might watch for her 
eldest girl and boy, Janey and Jimmy, who would 
now be returning from school. 

“ Our baker really bakes very decent bread,” 
said she : “ ’tis almost as good as my own.” And 
she went on eating till she saw.her two children 
coming through the fields together. 

“ Here they come,” said she. “ How bonny 
332 





The Bread of Discontent . 


they look! Really, I ought to be very proud of 
them. I don’t know which is the prettier, Janey 
or Jimmy; but ’tis a pity, for sure, that Janey is 
the eldest. It would be much better if Jimmy 
were older than she. ’Tis a bad thing for the 
sister to be older than the brother. Now, if he 
were her age, and she were his, that would be 
really nice ; for then he could take care of her 
and see after her: but, as it is, she will try to 
direct him, and boys never like to obey their 
sisters. I really almost think I had better not 
have had any children at all.” And the tears 
filled her eyes; and, when her girl and boy ran 
in to her, her face was very sad, and she seemed 
to be scarcely glad to see them. 

So things went on all over the village. Each 
one as he tasted the bread grew discontented 
and angry, till at last all the people went about 
grumbling and complaining, or else shedding 
tears outright. Only the baker himself was 
cheerful and merry, and sang as he kneaded his 
dough, and sold it to his customers with a light 
heart; for his trade had never been so good. 
Every atom of bread he made was sold at once: 

333 











Golden Book of Tales. 

so he cared not one whit for the trouble of the 
other people, and laughed to himself when he 
heard them complaining, and thought of the 
words of the dark little elf. 

One day, as he stood kneading at the door 
and whistling to himself, the doctor walked past, 
and looked angrily at him. 

“What on earth are you making that whistling 
for?” he asked. “I declare one would think 
that you were as happy as a man could be.” 

“And so I am,” said the baker; “and so I 
should think were you too, for you have nothing 
to trouble you.” 

“ Nothing to trouble me, forsooth ! ” cried the 
doctor in a rage. “ How dare you insult me in 
this way ? I tell you what it is, my fine fel¬ 
low ! I think you are very impertinent; and, if I 
have any more of your impudence, I ’will take 
my stick and thrash you soundly. It really is 
not to be borne that one man should be allowed 
to tell another that he has nothing to complain 
of.” 

“Nay: you can have as much to complain of 
as you like, so long as I have not,” cried the 

334 





The Bread of Discontent . 

baker; and he laughed loudly. This only made 
the doctor angrier still, and he was just going to 
seize the baker when up came the farmer. 

“Was there ever such a village as this?” he 
cried. “ It is not fit for any one to live in, there 
is always such fighting and quarreling going on. 
What is the matter here ? ” 

“ Matter enough,” cried the doctor. “ Here 
is a fellow dares to tell me I have nothing to 
complain of, nor he either.” 

“This is monstrous!” said the farmer: “he 
deserves to be hung. How dares he say such a 
thing on such a wretched day as this, with such 
a blue sky and such a bright sun ? ” 

“Why, Master Farmer,” cried the baker, 
“yesterday you grumbled because it was rain¬ 
ing, and now you grumble because it is fine.” 

“ And I tell you that it is enough to make one 
grumble,” said the farmer. “It should have 
been fair yesterday, and should have rained 
to-day. You ought to be ashamed of such talk, 
Master Baker; and I think it would serve you 
justly right if we took you before the justice, 
and let us see what he thinks of your conduct.” 

335 





Golden Book of Tales. 

“ Nay! ” cried the baker, beginning to be 
frightened: “ what have I done that I am to be 
taken before the justice ? ” 

“What have you done, indeed?” said the 
doctor. “ We will see if the justice can not find 
that out pretty quickly.” So they seized the 
baker, and dragged him away in spite of himself; 
and, as they pulled him through the village, the 
people thronged about them, and followed till 
there was quite a large crowd. 

The justice sat at his door smoking a pipe, 
with tears in his eyes. 

“ Now what is all this uproar for?” cried he. 
“ Am I never to be left in peace ? How hard is 
the life of a justice ! ” But he got up, and came 
out on the steps to meet them. 

“ See here! ” cried the doctor: “ here is a 
man who says he has nothing to complain of; 
and we have brought him to you to know if he 
is to be punished, or to be allowed to go on 
talking like this.” 

“ Certainly not,” cried the justice, “ or we 
shall soon have the whole village in an uproar. 
Let him be taken to the market-place, and I 
336 





The Bread of Discontent . 

will order that he be publicly flogged by the 
soldiers.” 

At this the poor baker burst out crying, and 
entreated to be let off, saying that now indeed 
he had plenty to complain of; but at this the 
justice was angrier still. “Then,” said he,” 
“you certainly deserve to be flogged for having 
told an untruth before, when you said you had 
not. Take him away, and do as I bid.” 

So they dragged the baker off to the market¬ 
place, and made a ring round him, so that he 
could not escape ; and then there came down two 
or three soldiers with ropes in their hands, and 
they seized him, and began to beat him before 
all the crowd. 

But by this time all the people were so en¬ 
raged against him, that a number of them cried, 
“ Let us go to his house, and pull it down.” So 
off they ran to the baker’s house, and broke the 
windows and knocked about the furniture; and 
then some of them fell on the oven, and 
wrenched off the door; and others seized the 
pokers and tongs, and smashed in its sides; and 
in the hurry and scuffle the little dark man 

337 





Golden Book of Tales . 

crept out of the oven, and scuttled away unseen 
by any one. But no sooner had he gone than 
a great change came across the people. 

The soldiers on the green stopped beating 
the baker, and looked at each other aghast; and 
the justice called out,— 

“Stop! What is all this uproar about? And 
what has this man done that you are beating him 
without my orders ? ” And the people in the 
crowd whispered to each other, “ It is true: 
what has he done ? ” and they slunk away, look¬ 
ing ashamed. 

The justice also at first looked somewhat 
ashamed of himself; but he drew himself up, 
and, looking very important, said, — 

“There, my man, you are forgiven for this 
once; and now go your way, and see that you 
behave better in future.” And then he walked 
away with much dignity. 

So the baker was left alone in the market¬ 
place, and he cried for rage and pain. 

“This all comes of the oven imp,” cried he, as 
he limped home. “ Directly I get home I will 
drive him out of my oven, and away from my 
338 





» 

The Bread of Discontent. 

house. Better to have a hundred batches of 
bread spoiled than to be flogged for saying one 
is happy.” But when he reached his house the 
little dark man was nowhere to be found. There 
was naught but the broken oven with its sides 
battered in. 

The baker mended the oven, and from that 
time forth his bread was just like other people’s. 
But for all that he had learnt to be quite con¬ 
tented ; for now he knew that there were worse 
things than having his loaves burnt black: and 
he was only too well pleased to take his chance 
with other people, without the help of fairy folk. 
As for the little black imp, he was never heard 
of more; and the people in the village soon 
recovered their good humor, and were just as 
happy and contented as they had been before 
they tasted the bread of discontent. 

339 


















































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